Archives for category: Uncategorized

Robotics for Wheelchairs: The UPnRIDE

January 24, 2015 //

UPnRIDE, ReWalk, quadriplegic, standing wheelchair, Segway

The trend of assistive technology is heading away from bulky, inconvenient wheelchairs that limit user’s interaction with the world. As there are different levels of injury and disability for those with spinal cord and other neurological injuries, depending on the severity some have functional use of their upper extremities but not their lower extremities, while others have limited use of their upper and lower extremities. And while there have been amazing strides for mobility with exoskeletons for those with these injuries such as the ReWalk, most new robotic assistive devices require mobility of the arms in order to support the body with assisted walking.

As necessity is the main driver for invention, the founder of the ReWalk, Amit Goffer, is in the process of developing a new product which would provide upright mobility and transfer assistance for those with injuries leaving them injured from the neck down. This product is the UPnRIDE, a standing wheelchair that moves like a Segway, and also converts to allow for sit to stand transfers. The UPnRIDE is quite amazing in its ability to negotiate uneven surfaces, slopes, turns, and allow for balance righting for safety of the user. Standing, being able to change positions, negotiating the outside environment are important not only for someone’s quality of life but also for basic health.

While the product is still in the design phase with the price goal of $25,000, it has already been funded and a prototype is in the plans to be released soon. See the video below for more information:

Tags Amit Goffer, assistive technology, RehaMed, ReWalk, robotic wheelchairs, UPnRIDE

Categories Uncategorized

Robotics for Prosthetics: Touch Bionics

August 19, 2014 //

source

Upper body prostheses have definitely come a long way. For those with amputations at the hand or wrist, gone is the time when the only option was a hook or some other horrific replacement.

Touch Bionics is a company which makes myoelectric prostheses to replace upper body amputations at the hand and wrist. Myoelectric prostheses are a life-altering product which attach at the remaining part of the limb and are triggered my muscle signals from intact muscle. Touch Bionics has a number of products, and has recently updated their i-limb ultra bionic hand to the i-limb ultra revolution, which includes a rotating thumb and four other articulating digits for up to 36 types of grasp. A mobile app allows the control of these grip patterns, which includes 12 possible customized grips. In addition, a silicone skin-like covering is available in a number of colors to allow for improved grasp and a more skin-like feel.

As we know, hands are very complex body parts with multiple joints that are responsible for numerous different movements, functions, and types of grip. To recreate these movements and try to mimic the function of human fingers, particularly the thumb, is quite difficult. While the loss of a hand naturally causes a great disability, a great product such as this allows an individual to perform a multitude of daily task such as tie their shoes, grasp a pen, or use a smartphone.

Watch the video below for more information:

Categories Bionics, healthcare, rehabilitation, robotics, Uncategorized

Bionics for organ replacement: Artificial Pancreas

June 22, 2014 //

photo source

Diabetes is a chronic disease of the body’s inability to control blood sugar leading to, among other issues, amputations, vision loss, cardiovascular problems and nerve damage. Those with Type I diabetes often are born with the disease, and are diagnosed because of uncontrolled glucose levels and the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin, which is a hormone that helps to pull sugar out of the bloodstream and convert it to usable energy. The pancreas also produces the hormone glucagon, which works conversely of insulin and increases glucose levels in the body.

Those with type I diabetes must constantly monitor their body’s blood sugar and regulate it by sticking a needle into their body to deliver insulin. This old method is thankfully being upgraded according to a bionic pancreas whose effectiveness was confirmed in a study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine, carried out by researchers at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital.

In two similar studies performed, adolescents and adults (over 21) were given a bihormonal (insulin and glucagon) pancreas to test which required only an iPhone and small subcutaneous device to deliver injections. Over 5 days, subjects were encouraged to eat and drink as normal while the device monitored their body’s response to meals. The device itself involved an iPhone which ran an algorithm which monitored glucose levels, and commanded the hardware interface to deliver specific levels of insulin or glucagon as needed through subcutaneous injection. Amazingly, this system updates every five minutes and adjusts hormone level as needed.

While this system is not for home sale yet, with such positive outcomes it will hopefully be on the consumer market soon.

Categories Bionics, healthcare, Pediatrics, research, Uncategorized

Robotics for Wheelchairs: Tek Robotic Mobilization Device

May 5, 2014 //

Being permanently confined to a wheelchair not only limits you for health reasons, but wheelchairs are also a huge physical barrier to traveling between locations. Even if a target destination is coined ADA accessible, logistically getting to and from a location can have so many barriers that it may not be worth the trip. Constantly relying on others for assistance, not being able to speak at eye level, the physical impact of constantly sitting are some of the problems those that are confined to a wheelchair must experience.

Developed a couple of years ago but finally being released for sale on the market sometime this year, Tek Robotics has developed a robotic mobilization device that allows an individual to independently stand, and then mobilize them to a location that may not be wheelchair accessible. Each device supports a person from behind and gently pulls them into standing position, all without the assistance of a second individual. Instead of throwing the body forward as needed to heave someone out of a wheelchair, this battery-operated devices uses a gas spring to help suspend a person in a standing position. The dimensions are thin enough to fit through a regular doorway (it occupies one third the width of a wheelchair, states the website) but also designed for balance even with the narrower base.

Reservations are now being taken for shipment sometime this year. Each unit will cost approximately $15,000. See the video below for more explanation:

photo source

Tags robotic mobilization device, robotics, Tek Robotics, wheelchairs

Categories healthcare, locomotion, rehabilitation, robotics, Uncategorized

Robotics in Parathletic Competitions: Cybathlon 2016

March 31, 2014 //

The age of robotics has created a new kind of athlete, and the possibilities are quite amazing. 2016 will mark the first Cybathlon, to be held in Switzerland. This will be a competition for parathletes, called “pilots,” using robot-assisted technology. The competition is an Olympics-style event, featuring six different competitions, or “disciplines.” Each discipline features pilots with a specific category of injury using an appropriate device. In this competition, both the pilots and robotics companies are allowed the opportunity to win a prize. This competition is not only a victory for the advancement of robotics beyond basic function, but more importantly for athletes with life altering injuries such as amputations and spinal cord injuries.

The first competition will is an “Arms Prosthetic Race,” which features two events. Those with amputation of the arms using upper body bionic prosthetics to complete a two hand course using a loop around a wire, and a “SHAP course ADL” which is an upper body obstacle course requiring pilots to perform a series of tasks, grasping different kinds of objects in order to progress to the next.

The second discipline is a BCI (brain computer interface) race, in which participants mentally race avatars through a variety of obstacle courses. This discipline is for those with spinal cord injury at neck level, which has left them paralyzed from the neck down.

The discipline close to heart, however, is the “Powered Exoskeleton Race.” Did we ever think we would see a day when athletes with spinal cord injuries leaving their lower body without motor control would run in an Olympic-style event? This discipline will feature an obstacle course including stairs, ramps, slopes, narrow beam and others, ending in a final sprint. Wow.

For those with spinal cord injuries leaving their trunk and upper body motor control intact, Discipline three features an FES (Functional Electrical Stimulation) bike race. An FES bike assists lower body movement while the trunk and arms work to help control the bike around a race course.

A Leg Prosthetics Race and Powered Wheelchair Race comprise two other disciplines for those with lower body injuries.

Tags amputees, BCI, Brain Computer Interface, Cybathlon, exoskeletons, FES, Parathletes, powered wheelchair, prosthetics, Robot-Assisted Parathletes, robotics, spinal cord injuries

Categories Bionics, cybathlon, parathletes, Uncategorized

Robotics for Love: Lovotics

March 10, 2014 //

It was only a matter of time before our machines became not only a functional, but emotional part of our lives. As devices become more and more personalized, we are drawn toward them in a way that we are drawn toward the people in our lives. “It knows me,” this personalization seems to say. And as these devices become more personalized with recognition features, where do we draw the line between functional robotics and love? After all, don’t robotics exist to fill a gap in life or make it more efficient? And aren’t humans sometimes unpredictable and unreliable, unlike our machines?

The Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Technology Laboratory (AIART) in Tawain has been developing a lovotics robot to further explore the human to robot relationship. Involved in this development is the understand of the physiology behind love, which of course is a complex combination of factors including hormones, affect and emotion. According to their website, the artificial intelligence in the lovotics lab mimics the different human systems involved in love and includes the development of an Artificial Endocrine System (physiology), Probabilistic Love Assembly (psychology), and the Affective State Transition (emotions).

The lab has worked on mimicking a myriad of human hormones, evaluating gestures and expressions. The psychological unit has looked into numerous parameters such as proximity, similarity, attachment, attraction, and reciprocal liking, among others. The robot not only enables these human components, but adjusts them based on input and feedback. Amazing, is love as mysterious as we like to think or a controllable environment of many components? This opens the window to questions of our future, will relationships as we know them change? See the video below.

And a video with more explanation:

Tags AIART, love, lovotics, robot, robotics

Categories lovotics, robotics, robots, Uncategorized

Robotics for Elder Care: Bestic

February 27, 2014 //

For those that prefer independent living but require assistance with dally tasks such as eating, Swedish company Bestic has developed a robotic arm that assists with eating. It can be programmed for height, speed, and type of food, and allows the user to eat alongside others without requiring the assistance of another person. For those with musculoskeletal and neurological injuries and diseases that render their upper body muscles weak or with tremor such as Polio, MS, Parkinson’s or Ataxia, this allows for some normalcy at mealtime.

Those that are interested in trying the device can contact the makers through their website.

Watch the video below:

Tags Bestic, Eating assistive device, elderly care, healthcare robotics, robotics

Categories elderly care, healthcare, robotics, Uncategorized

Robotics for Brain Machine Interfaces: Muse

February 19, 2014 //

It always seemed so far away that we would be able to control our environment with just our brains, but as our brains produce electrical signals, it was only a matter of time that these could be converted for use in technology. Muse by Interaxon is a brain-sensing headband which uses EEG’s to detect changes in brainwaves which are meant to convert to digital signals. This product features 6 sensors in the headband, and using a tablet or PC the changes in brainwaves can be monitored for mental acuity and relaxation exercises. In a time when our brains can easily fatigue from the constant multitasking and refreshing of our technology at hand, this is something that can prove very valuable to allow us to improve our concentration and get feedback should we lose our focus.

Future implications given on the website include controlling music, playing games, and changing home environments.

Home units can be pre-ordered now for $299. These headbands come in black or white, and include a Calm app and free basic software development kit.

Watch the video about the product below:

Tags Brain Interface Machines, Brain Machine Interfaces, Interaxon, Muse

Categories Brain Machine Interfaces, education, robotics, Uncategorized

Robotics for Diagnostics: Cyberplasm

February 2, 2014 //

Our body has an amazing sense of recognizing something as self or foreign, harmful or beneficial. However, our interpretation of this data and pinpointing specific diseases leads to the sometimes complicated world of diagnostics. The process of finding what disease, organism, or bacteria is present in the body, then recognizing and analyzing it involves multiple systems. Funded by the the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, scientists are developing a small ‘biohybrid’ robot called the Cyberplasm which uses living cells and technology to find and interact with bacteria and cells within our own bodies. Once something is identified, it can be reported back to an engineered nervous system to interpret. Based on the form and function of a sea lamprey, a simple sea creature pictured above, the small robot will be able to swim through our bodies to possibly record data, find and identify diseases.

This is no small feat. In order to achieve this, the Cyberplasm is equipped with synthetic muscle to propel it through the body, which requires the biologic conversion of sugar to energy. Synthetic sensors scope the environment and report back to an electronic nervous system. This is all part of an engineering principle called “Synthetic Biology,” where man made devices mimic life’s functions. Optoelectric interfaces are being developed to adapt and respond to a changing environment as the robot swims through the body. The power of the robot will come from microbial fuel cells, a renewable energy, converting bacteria to electric current and energy.

Tags biohybrid, cyberplasm, diagnostics, robotics, synthetic biology

Categories Diagnostics, robotics, Uncategorized

Robotics for upper body rehabilitation: Modular Prosthetic Limb

January 5, 2014 //

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have spent years developing an amazing prosthetic limb called the Modular Prosthetic Limb, which mimics upper body movement controlled by thought. The project was funded by DARPA in the 2005 to assist veterans who had sustained injuries and amputations to their arms. The process of actually using the device involves rerouting the electrical signals of the body to the prosthetic limb, and requires mental imagery exercises of the clients in order to develop the networks similar to how we build them to control limbs in our own bodies.

To mimic upper body movement is incredibly difficult and a feat in and of itself. The fine movement and precision of an arm is much different than that of a leg. While the lower extremities are primary used for ambulation and mobility, the man purpose of the hand and upper extremity is for dexterity; grabbing and reaching objects, helping us eat, dress, and complete most daily tasks. The Modular Prosthetic Limb features more than 100 sensors and 26 degrees of freedom (variations in movement). It can open and close the hand, differentiate grasp as a human hand does, and has the strength of a human arm. In an incredibly complicated system, the device communicates with the brain as would a regular limb. The details of the development are discussed in their paper An Overview of the Developmental Process of the Modular Prosthetic Limb, a look into the arduous process of developing this product.