Saad Abdullah; Muhammad A. Khan; Mauro Serpelloni; Emilio Sardini
Abstract
Nowadays, bio-signal based BCI systems are widely being used in healthcare systems and hence proven to be an effective tool in rehabilitation engineering to assist disabled people in improving their quality of life [1]. In this research work, handicapped people with above hand amputee have been targeted ...
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Nowadays, bio-signal based BCI systems are widely being used in healthcare systems and hence proven to be an effective tool in rehabilitation engineering to assist disabled people in improving their quality of life [1]. In this research work, handicapped people with above hand amputee have been targeted and hence non-invasive EEG and EMG biosensors are used to design wireless hybrid BCI system. The presented hybrid system is able to control real-time movement of robotic arm via combined effect of brain waves (attention and meditation mind states) and wrist muscles movements of healthy arm as command signal. The system operates the robotic arm within 3 degree of freedom (DOF) motion which corresponds to movement of shoulder (internal and external rotation), elbow (flexion and extension) and wrist (Gripper open and close) joint. It has been experimentally tested on 4 subjects with upper limb amputee (having one healthy arm) after training period of one day. On receiving the input signals from EEG and EMG sensors, subjects have successfully controlled the movements of the robotic arm with accuracy of 70% to 90%. In order to validate the obtained results, a potentiometer has been fixed on robotic arm and angular motion of shoulder and elbow joint is recorded (actual motion) and compared with results of the BCI system (required motion). The comparison shows high resemblance between actual and required motion which reflects the reliability of the system. In addition, apart from robotic prototype, its 2D modelled is also designed on visual studio. The presented preliminary experimental results show that the motorized prosthetic prototype movement due to mind and muscle control is in accordance with the 2D modelled virtual arm permitting to improve its real-time adoption for rehabilitation.
Muhammad A. Khan; Saad Abdullah; Mauro Serpelloni; Emilio Sardini
Abstract
In the presented research, design of functional electrical stimulation (FES) based muscle stimulator device has been described which is used to correct and enhance the gait activity of foot drop patients. The device mainly comprises of FES unit for electrical pulse generation, an electromyography (EMG) ...
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In the presented research, design of functional electrical stimulation (FES) based muscle stimulator device has been described which is used to correct and enhance the gait activity of foot drop patients. The device mainly comprises of FES unit for electrical pulse generation, an electromyography (EMG) sensor V3 for feedback system and insole force-sensitive resistive sensors (FSR) to control ON/OFF timing of device. The device controls the ankle flexion without excessive eversion or inversion of foot (i.e. balanced flexion) by stimulation of common peroneal nerve and tibialis anterior muscle (TA). The efficiency of device is assessed by evaluating gait temporal and spatial parameters (TSP’s) and 3-dimensional gait kinematics (ankle flexion) of footdrop patients by “Peak Motus Motion Measurement System”. It has been found that use of FES stimulator increases the walking speed by 19%, cadence by 7%, step length by 11% and stride length by 15.5%. In addition, it is also observed that stride time, stance time, step time, single support time and double support time is decreased by 5%, 17%, 22%, 15% and 18% respectively. Moreover, kinematics analysis of foot shows that the device prevented the footdrop up to 30° by controlling the ankle flexion and extension magnitude. Thus, the obtained results suggest that the proposed FES based stimulator device provides enough stimulation to peroneal nerve required for stable gait activity of footdrop patients. Copyright © 2018 VBRI Press.
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