Robotics research: Enhancing the lives of people with disabilities

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Robotics research: Enhancing the lives of people with disabilities

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/riot-rre080708.php

NSF-sponsored project improves quality and flexibility of

rehabilitation robotics

Robots may be the solution for people with disabilities who are

struggling to regain the use of their limbs, thanks to a research

team that includes engineers and students from Rochester Institute of

Technology.

The study utilizes physiological information, or bio-signals,

produced by the human body, to improve the performance of external

assistive devices, called orthoses, which aid individuals with

physical disabilities, such as strokes or major spinal cord injuries,

regain the use of there arms and legs.

The project is funded through the National Science Foundation

Computer, Information Science and Engineering Directorate and

includes researchers and students from Rochester Institute of

Technology, Georgia Tech, and town University.

" The data collected through this project will assist designers and

engineers in developing more sophisticated assistive aids for

individuals suffering from various neuromuscular diseases and

musculoskeletal injuries, " explains Brown, assistant professor

of electrical engineering at RIT and director of the Biomechatronics

Learning Laboratory. "

Brown adds that people with these types of ailments, such as muscular

dystrophy, have extremely weak muscles that waste away over time.

These individuals experience difficulties in the simplest of physical

tasks, for example, picking up a cup or holding a spoon. A robotic

orthosis that takes advantage of the individual's residual strength

and any remaining physiological information in their limbs, such as

an electromyographic signal produced in muscles, could ultimately

assist muscular dystrophy patients regain significant use of there

limbs.

" Better orthotic technologies could ultimately help people suffering

from this disease greatly enhance the quality of their life, " Brown

says.

Researchers in the Biomechatronic Learning Laboratory are currently

studying individuals with healthy muscles to develop a baseline, and

then plan to test their robotic system on patients currently

suffering from muscular dystrophy. The results from the project will

be used to enhance the development of orthotics technologies and also

contribute to the broader field of rehabilitation robotics, including

the creation of better prosthetic limbs.