Improvement of rehabilitation possibilities with the MotionMaker™

"MotionMakertrade" is a stationary programmable test and training system for the lower limbs developed at the 'Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne' with the 'Fondation Suisse pour les Cybertheses'. The system is composed of two robotic orthoses comprising motors and sensors, and a control unit managing the trans- cutaneous electrical muscle stimulation with real-time regulation. The control of the functional electrical stimulation (FES) induced muscle force necessary to mimic natural exercise is ensured by the control unit which receives a continuous input from the position and force sensors mounted on the robot. First results with control subjects showed the feasibility of creating movements by such closed-loop controlled FES induced muscle contractions. To make exercising with the MotionMakertrade safe for clinical trials with spinal cord injured (SCI) volunteers, several original safety features have been introduced. The MotionMakertrade is able to identify and manage the occurrence of spasms. Fatigue can also be detected and overfatigue during exercise prevented

Neuroprosthetics to support impaired hand functions: A multidisciplinary approach combining brain-machine interfaces and wearable exoskeletons

Luca Randazzo

Neuroprosthetics, the discipline that aims at interfacing neural systems to artificially engineered devices, has witnessed in recent years important advancements towards the ultimate goal of augmenting and restoring human functions through technology and artificial systems. Research in this field covers a wide range of efforts, from advancing our basic understanding of the neural processes involved into human sensory, motor and cognitive functions, to developing artificial intelligence algorithms for their decoding, to the physical interfacing between artificial devices and the human nervous system and biomechanics. Ultimately, this discipline aims at fusing these systems in order to restore, replace and rehabilitate lost and impaired functions due to motor disabling conditions or traumatic accidents. In this thesis, I present a multidisciplinary approach that aimed at developing a neuroprosthesis for the assistance and restoration of hand functions impaired by neurological disorders or traumatic accidents, such as cerebrovascular accidents and spinal cord injuries. These efforts encompassed the conceptualization and development of a robotic hand exoskeleton and brain-machine interface (BMI) algorithms for its control. Specifically, this thesis focused on the design, development and testing of (i) a novel mechatronic hand exoskeleton to assist hand motions within domestic and clinical settings, (ii) non-invasive BMI approaches based on electroencephalography (EEG) to decode neural correlates of intended hand movements, and on (iii) the closed-loop integration of the proposed exoskeleton and BMI for the sake of providing continuous feedback about ongoing neural modulations through hand motions and to trigger sensorimotor rehabilitation within clinical scenarios. Results showed that the proposed mechatronic system can successfully control hand opening and closing within a fully wearable, portable and lightweight package. The system was tested with users who suffered from motor disabling impairments, showing that it could help them in performing several activities of daily living for the first time since their accidents. From a brain-machine interfacing perspective, this work shows how imagined hand movements can be decoded, through EEG, in parallel with exoskeleton-induced motions, with important implications for the development of more embodied human-machine interaction protocols. Finally, this work shows how the closed-loop control of exoskeleton motions by means of the decoded ongoing neural activity enhances the discriminability of sensorimotor neural patterns and improves the performance of the brain-machine control channel. Overall, the results presented here represent important advancements within the field of neuroprosthetics, with interesting implications for the development of assistive exoskeletal technologies and non-invasive brain-machine interfaces aimed at controlling such systems in clinical or domestic settings, for both assistive and neurorehabilitative purposes.

EPFL2018

Co-evolution of Morphology and Control of a Wearable Robot for Human Locomotion Assistance Exploiting Variable Impedance Actuators

Jesse van den Kieboom

The basic idea underlying this research is that the performances of wearable robots (WR) might be improved by optimizing the dynamics of the system comprised of the robot and the human body wearing it. This problem is not amenable to analytical investigations, and it asks for suitable numerical techniques able to simultaneously account for both robot mechanical structure dynamics and control laws. This paper presents on-going research efforts oriented to demonstrate a novel methodology for the design of an active lower limbs orthosis.

Elsevier Science, Reg Sales Off, Customer Support Dept, 655 Ave Of The Americas, New York, Ny 10010 Usa2011

Neuroprosthetics to support impaired hand functions: A multidisciplinary approach combining brain-machine interfaces and wearable exoskeletons

Luca Randazzo

EPFL2018