Rehab Archives

Researchers Develop 3D Sensing Wheelchair for the Visually Impaired

by Wouter Stomp on May 17, 2011 •

g0l0r2w2 Researchers Develop 3D Sensing Wheelchair for the Visually ImpairedResearchers from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden are developing a wheelchair that senses its environment in 3D and transmits this information to its user. It features a laser scanner that uses a time-of-flight technique to map its surroundings in 3D. A haptic robot, held in the left hand, translates this data to useful information for the user, enabling one to feel obstacles, essentially acting as a virtual white cane. A joystick is used with the right hand for steering.

The wheelchair is now in the initial testing phases, being trialed out in the corridors of the university buildings. Future improvements include modification of the laser to detect low-height objects using full 2D measurements with a 3D camera. The wheelchair might be available in approximately five years according to the researchers.

Press release: Successful first test drive of “sighted” wheelchair…

(hat tip: Engadget)

Neurology / Rehab

Bioness NESS L300 Plus System Gets Green Light in U.S.

by Gene Ostrovsky on May 10, 2011
Bioness NESS L300 Plus System Gets Green Light in U.S.

Bioness out of Valencia, California has received U.S. FDA approval for its NESS L300 Plus System, a combination of the NESS L300 Foot Drop System with a thigh stimulation device. Intended for patients with upper motor neuron injury, post stroke, and other conditions, the system helps with knee flexion and extension, as well as ankle dorsiflexion.
From the announcement:

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Rehab

Snail Reader Vocalizes Printed Braille

by Gene Ostrovsky on May 9, 2011
Snail Reader Vocalizes Printed Braille

Yanko Design is featuring a product concept that can quickly and automatically read tactile Braille to the user. The donut shaped device, named Snail, would have a touch sensitive surface that can resolve individual bumps on paper and a speaker that would vocalize the text. Guide wheels along the outer edge of the sensor would help navigate the unit down the line of text to be read. Additionally, a built-in Bluetooth radio would be able to transmit the audio to an ear piece for less conspicuous use.

More at Yanko Design…

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Neurology / Rehab

Smart Glove May Help Recover from Stroke, Improve Video Gaming Skills

by Gene Ostrovsky on Apr 27, 2011
Smart Glove May Help Recover from Stroke, Improve Video Gaming Skills

Students at McGill University in Quebec, Canada have developed an electronic glove that can monitor how well patients post stroke are playing video games. Sensors throughout the glove provide detailed information about hand motion and the system can send the data to a physician or rehab specialist.
From a McGill statement:

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Neurology / Rehab

Tibion Bionic Leg for Active Robotic Stroke Rehabilitation

by Gene Ostrovsky on Apr 25, 2011
Tibion Bionic Leg for Active Robotic Stroke Rehabilitation

A couple years ago we wrote about a powered knee orthosis from Tibion Bionic Technologies developed for people with muscle problems, arthritis, and those post surgery to regain missing strength. A potential use of the Tibion bionic leg that was considered in the past was to help those suffering from the residual effects of a stroke to regain walking skills. Two years since, the company has reinvented its strategy, redesigned the device, and discovered that stroke patients can benefit greatly from the therapeutic advantages of the system.
The device is now indicated in the US for use by rehabilitation centers as a training aid in helping recover a proper walking gait. Software that controls the knee has been rewritten specifically to work for stroke rehab. The company says that its system is currently undergoing a 24 patient trial at New York Presbyterian hospital.

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Rehab

Hands Free Typing for Completely Paralyzed On The Cheap

by Gene Ostrovsky on Apr 22, 2011

An undergraduate student at University of Westminster posted a video of himself where he uses an off-the-shelf NeuroSky Mindset consumer EEG monitor to compose and send emails and tweets. The system uses T9 word suggestion, the same technology that corrects your smartphone typing, to make things easier.

Product page: MindSet…

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in the news... / Rehab

Electromyography Is Feasible for Controlling Future Bionic Legs

by Gene Ostrovsky on Apr 21, 2011
Electromyography Is Feasible for Controlling Future Bionic Legs

Researchers at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) have shown that leg amputees posses enough neural signal to control the ankle and knee joints in a potential bionic leg that would detect electrical activity in remaining muscles. Before building a real prosthesis, the investigators used electromyography (EMG) on four amputees to control a virtual leg on a computer. The results, published in the latest JAMA, showed great promise for EMG in lower leg prostheses.

Dr. Hargrove’s research published in JAMA investigates real-time neural control in four lower limb amputees and four non-amputee control participants, measuring the EMG signals in nine lower limb muscle sites during lower limb movement. Through real-time tests, all participants were instructed to move a virtual lower limb through a variety of motion patterns on a computer screen. Metrics were based on accuracy of movement, the time it took to complete the motion and the percentage of successfully completed motions.

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Rehab

Voice Box Prototype Utilizes Magnets to Detect Vocal Patterns

by Scott Jung on Apr 21, 2011
Voice Box Prototype Utilizes Magnets to Detect Vocal Patterns

New Scientist magazine has written a piece about a new voice box being developed in the U.K. from researchers at the University of Sheffield and the University of Hull. Designed especially for patients who have lost their larynx due to cancer or other diseases, the system uses magnets inside the mouth to detect facial movements that correspond to words.
So far, the device, which also consists of a head-worn unit, is able to discern about 50 words. Researchers hope to minimize its footprint by reducing the headset to the size of a Bluetooth earpiece, as well as implanting the magnets inside the tongue.

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Pediatrics / Rehab

Students use Wii Balance Boards to Create Balance Training System for Kids

by Wouter Stomp on Apr 18, 2011
Students use Wii Balance Boards to Create Balance Training System for Kids

Students from Rice University are using Wii balance boards to create a balance training system for kids. They have linked five balance boards to a computerized motion-tracking system and developed a game based on this system to help children advance their skills. The boards are lined up in a row between active handrails that provide feedback on how heavily users depend on their arms. From the press release:

The game requires patients to shoot approaching monsters by hitting particular spots with their feet as they step along the Wii array, computer science student Jesus Cortez, one of the game’s creators, explained. The game gets harder as the patients improve, he said, and the chance to rack up points gives them an incentive.

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