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Real-time strap pressure sensor system for powered exoskeletons.

ABSTRACT: Assistive and rehabilitative powered exoskeletons for spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke subjects have recently reached the clinic. Proper tension and joint alignment are critical to ensuring safety. Challenges still exist in adjustment and fitting, with most current systems depending on personnel experience for appropriate individual fastening. Paraplegia and tetraplegia patients using these devices have impaired sensation and cannot signal if straps are uncomfortable or painful. Excessive pressure and blood-flow restriction can lead to skin ulcers, necrotic tissue and infections. Tension must be just enough to prevent slipping and maintain posture. Research in pressure dynamics is extensive for wheelchairs and mattresses, but little research has been done on exoskeleton straps. We present a system to monitor pressure exerted by physical human-machine interfaces and provide data about levels of skin/body pressure in fastening straps. The system consists of sensing arrays, signal processing hardware with wireless transmission, and an interactive GUI. For validation, a lower-body powered exoskeleton carrying the full weight of users was used. Experimental trials were conducted with one SCI and one able-bodied subject. The system can help prevent skin injuries related to excessive pressure in mobility-impaired patients using powered exoskeletons, supporting functionality, independence and better overall quality of life.

SUBMITTER: Tamez-Duque J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4367424 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Real-time strap pressure sensor system for powered exoskeletons.

Tamez-Duque Jesús J Cobian-Ugalde Rebeca R Kilicarslan Atilla A Venkatakrishnan Anusha A Soto Rogelio R Contreras-Vidal Jose Luis JL

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) 20150216 2

Assistive and rehabilitative powered exoskeletons for spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke subjects have recently reached the clinic. Proper tension and joint alignment are critical to ensuring safety. Challenges still exist in adjustment and fitting, with most current systems depending on personnel experience for appropriate individual fastening. Paraplegia and tetraplegia patients using these devices have impaired sensation and cannot signal if straps are uncomfortable or painful. Excessive pre ...[more]

PMID: 25690551

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Project description:IntroductionPeripheral nerve crush injury (PNCI) models are commonly used to study nerve damage and the potential beneficial effects of novel therapeutic strategies. Current models of PNCI rely on inter-device and operator precision to limit the variation with applied pressure. Although the inability to accurately quantify the PNCI pressure may result in reduced reproducibility between animals and studies, there is very limited information on the standardization and quantification of applied pressure with PNCI. To address this deficit, we constructed a novel device comprised of an Arduino UNO microcontroller board and Force Sensitive Resistor capable of reporting the real-time pressure applied to a nerve.MethodsTwo forceps and two needle drivers were used to perform 30-second PNCIs to the sciatic nerves of mice (n = 5/group). Needle drivers were set to the first notch, and a jig was used to hold the forceps pinch at a reproducible pressure. The Force Sensitive Resistor was interposed in-series between the nerve and instrument during PNCI.ResultsData collected from these procedures displayed average needle driver pressures an order of multitude greater than forceps pressures. Additionally, needle driver inter- and intra-procedure pressure remained more consistent than forceps pressure, with needle driver coefficient of variation equal to 14.5% vs. a forceps coefficient of variation equal to 45.4%.ConclusionsThis is the first demonstration of real-time pressure measurements in PNCI models and it reveals that the applied pressures are dependent on the types of device used. The large disparity in pressure represents an inability to apply graded accurate and consistent intermediate pressure gradients in PNCI. These findings indicate a need for documentation of pressure severity as a screening for PNCI in animals, and the real-time pressure sensor could be a useful tool in monitoring and applying consistent pressure, reducing the outcome variability within the same experimental model of PNCI.

Project description:Underwater sensor networks represent an important and promising field of research due to the large diversity of underwater ubiquitous applications that can be supported by these networks, e.g., systems that deliver tsunami and oil spill warnings, or monitor submarine ecosystems. Most of these monitoring and warning systems require real-time communication in wide area networks that have a low density of nodes. The underwater communication medium involved in these networks is very harsh and imposes strong restrictions to the communication process. In this scenario, the real-time transmission of information is done mainly using acoustic signals, since the network nodes are not physically close. The features of the communication scenario and the requirements of the communication process represent major challenges for designers of both, communication protocols and monitoring and warning systems. The lack of models to represent these networks is the main stumbling block for the proliferation of underwater ubiquitous systems. This paper presents a real-time communication model for underwater acoustic sensor networks (UW-ASN) that are designed to cover wide areas with a low density of nodes, using any-to-any communication. This model is analytic, considers two solution approaches for scheduling the real-time messages, and provides a time-constraint analysis for the network performance. Using this model, the designers of protocols and underwater ubiquitous systems can quickly prototype and evaluate their solutions in an evolving way, in order to determine the best solution to the problem being addressed. The suitability of the proposal is illustrated with a case study that shows the performance of a UW-ASN under several initial conditions. This is the first analytic model for representing real-time communication in this type of network, and therefore, it opens the door for the development of underwater ubiquitous systems for several application scenarios.

Dataset Information

Real-time strap pressure sensor system for powered exoskeletons.

Publications

Real-time strap pressure sensor system for powered exoskeletons.

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