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Robotic Arm Aids Stroke Victims
UPI Correspondent San Francisco (UPI) Feb 08, 2007 A robotic arm appears to help stroke patients regain some of the function lost in the brain attack that cost them partial use of their limbs, doctors demonstrated Wednesday. "We haven't been able to have patients regain all of their arm strength, but many of them tell us they can feel the difference," said Steven Cramer, associate professor in neurology, anatomy and neurobiology at the University of California at Irvine. In a study presented at the annual International Stroke Conference, Cramer said the robotic arm assists patients in performing certain tasks that were lost in a previous brain attack. For example, if a person cannot complete a fist as part of gripping test, the Hand-Wrist Assisting Robotic Device (HOWARD) will gently complete the motion. In addition to training the arm and hand muscles how to work again, Cramer said the muscle signals travel back to the brain, reminding the brain how to do the task. "Robot-assisted therapy may help rewire the brain and make weak limbs move better long afterwards," he told United Press International. Cramer's team, which included robotics engineers, computer scientists, occupational therapists and medical professionals, took a year to design, build and test HOWARD before turning it over to seven women and six men with arm/hard deficits from stroke. Cramer said he isn't the first to describe or even develop robotic devices for treating patients with stroke-caused deficits but noted his Irvine team has the most advanced hand device. He said shoulder and leg devices are already being sold. His robotic arm is reminiscent of machines called Waldoes, used in the nuclear industry and named after a device featured in a 1942 novella by science fiction legend Robert Heinlein. "Robots can consistently and precisely perform the same task without getting tired, record and adjust to the patient's responses, and provide feedback and virtual reality games that keep people interested and motivated," Cramer said. The 13 participants in the pilot study with HOWARD averaged 63 years of age. More than three months after a stroke, each patient had moderate weakness and reduced function of the right hand, although the affected hand was neither totally paralyzed nor unable to feel. Each patient received 15 two-hour therapy sessions, spread over three weeks, designed to improve their ability to grasp and release objects. "The therapy isn't passive; the brain has to jumpstart the program and initiate the motor command," Cramer said. "But if the hand is weak and can only budge one-tenth of an inch, the robot helps to complete the task so the brain relearns what it's like to make the full movement." At the end of three weeks all patients had improved in their ability to grasp and release objects. Their average score on the Action Research Arm Test improved 4.2 points, going from 33.5 to 37.3 points. The test measures, on a scale from 0 to 57, the ability to perform such real-world tasks as grasping a block, gripping a drinking glass, pinching to pick up a small marble or ball bearing, and placing a hand on the head. "An increase of 4 points or more on this test is considered clinically meaningful," Cramer said. He said he envisions robots used at home while a therapist monitors their use at a distance, a process called tele-rehabilitation. "With the robot, a therapist could theoretically run 10 therapy sessions at once, or use a webcam to provide therapy from a distance at home," he said. "While the numbers of patients in this study are small, it appears to show a proof of concept," said Dan Lackland, professor of epidemiology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. "I think that this device or ones that will follow it will help a lot more people than were included in the study." Cramer selected patients with a moderate amount of loss of motion in his study. However, Lackland said that, in the real world, patients who lost only a little ability will seek to use devices like HOWARD to complete their recovery from a stroke, and people severely handicapped by a stroke will seek to some even a minimal gain which, for them, could be significant as far as quality of life is concerned. Lackland said the progress made in the pilot study "is significant enough for researchers to proceed in fine-tuning the device and extending its use."
Source: United Press International Related Links University of California at Irvine All about the robots on Earth and beyond!
Scientists Study Adhesive Capabilities Of Geckos To Develop Surveillance Or Inspection Robots
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 31, 2007IOP Publishing is pleased to announce the online publication of "Structural properties of a scaled gecko foot-hair" in the newly launched Bioinspiration and Biomimetics. The complex adhesive capabilities of geckos have challenged explanation for years. While scientists have begun to understand some of their unique abilities even more puzzling questions abound. Geckos have millions of microscopic hairs on each foot. The tip of each hair is divided up even further. |
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