Conference Proceeding

A parallel compliant meso-manipulator for finger rehabilitation treatments: Kinematic and dynamic analysis.

01/2008; DOI:10.1109/IROS.2008.4651029 In proceeding of: 2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, September 22-26, 2008, Acropolis Convention Center, Nice, France
Source: DBLP

ABSTRACT A parallel and flexible meso-manipulator for finger rehabilitation treatments is presented in this paper. The work deals with the study of a meso-robotpsilas kinematic and dynamic peculiar behavior, aimed at allowing its application to muscular activity and tendon tension, in those patients with even a partial lack of the fingers functionality, for instance due to a stroke. As a result of its structural compliance, the meso-manipulator results particularly suitable for a rehabilitative application: after having coupled the manipulator to a common cloth-glove joined to the mobile platform of the robot, the patientpsilas finger can be driven to the required movement. As external loads can also be imposed to the involved tendons, the realized motion parts performed by the robot and by the patient can be quantified. In this way, the surgeon can constantly monitor the therapy trend, but also the patient has an objective quantification of his/her improvement.

0 0
  • [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: In biomechanics, the calculation of individual muscle forces during movements is based on a model of the musculoskeletal system and a method for extracting a unique set of muscle forces. To obtain a unique set of muscle forces, non-linear, static optimisation is commonly used. However, the optimal solution is dependent on the musculoskeletal geometry, and single joints may be represented using one, two or three degrees-of-freedom. Frequently, a system with multiple degrees-of-freedom is replaced with a system that contains a subset of all the possible degrees-of-freedom. For example, the cat ankle joint is typically modelled as a planar joint with its primary degree-of-freedom (plantar-dorsiflexion), whereas, the actual joint has three rotational degrees-of-freedom. Typically, such simplifications are justified by the idea that the reduced case is contained as a specific solution of the more general case. However, here we demonstrate that the force-sharing solution space of a general, three degrees-of-freedom musculoskeletal system does not necessarily contain the solutions from the corresponding one or two degrees-of-freedom systems. Therefore, solutions of a reduced system, in general, are not sub-set solutions of the actual three degrees-of-freedom system, but are independent solutions that are often incompatible with solutions of the actual system. This result shows that representing a three degrees-of-freedom system as a one or two degrees-of-freedom system gives force-sharing solutions that cannot be extrapolated to the actual system, and vice-versa. These results imply that general solutions cannot be extracted from models with fewer degrees-of-freedom than the actual system. They further emphasise the need for precise geometric representation of the musculoskeletal system, if general force-sharing rules are to be derived.
    Journal of Biomechanics 02/2006; 39(6):1145-52. · 2.72 Impact Factor
  • [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: This paper describes efficient procedures for performing transformations from the position and velocity of the end effector to the corresponding joint angles and velocities, and vice versa, for a six-degree-of-freedom robot manipulator having three revolute joint axes intersecting at the wrist. Some attention is paid to the problems that arise when the manipulator's position is near a deadpoint.
    The International Journal of Robotics Research 01/1983; 2(2):35-45. · 2.86 Impact Factor
  • [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: A numerical optimization procedure was used to determine finger positions that minimize and maximize finger tendon and joint force objective functions during piano play. A biomechanical finger model for sagittal plane motion, based on finger anatomy, was used to investigate finger tendon tensions and joint reaction forces for finger positions used in playing the piano. For commonly used piano key strike positions, flexor and intrinsic muscle tendon tensions ranged from 0.7 to 3.2 times the fingertip key strike force, while resultant inter-joint compressive forces ranged from 2 to 7 times the magnitude of the fingertip force. In general, use of a curved finger position, with a large metacarpophalangeal joint flexion angle and a small proximal interphalangeal joint flexion angle, reduces flexor tendon tension and resultant finger joint force.
    Journal of Biomechanics 01/1994; 26(12):1403-12. · 2.72 Impact Factor