Development of a Novel Robotic Rehabilitation System With Muscle-to-Muscle Interface.

In this study, we developed a novel robotic system with a muscle-to-muscle interface to enhance rehabilitation of post-stroke patients. The developed robotic rehabilitation system was designed to provide patients with stage appropriate physical rehabilitation exercise and muscular stimulation. Unlike the position-based control of conventional bimanual robotic therapies, the developed system stimulates the activities of the target muscles, as well as the joint movements of the paretic limb. The robot-assisted motion and the electrical stimulation on the muscles of the paretic side are controlled by on-line comparison of the motion and the muscle activities between the paretic and unaffected sides. With the developed system, the rehabilitation exercise can be customized and modulated depending on the patient's stage of motor recovery after stroke. The system can be operated in three different modes allowing both passive and active exercises. The effectiveness of the developed system was verified with healthy human subjects, where the subjects were paired to serve as the unaffected side and the paretic side of a hemiplegic patient.

Endoscopic navigation system with extended field of view using augmented reality technology.

BACKGROUND: While endoscopic skull base surgery (ESBS) has emerged as an alternative surgical option, the limited field of view of the endoscope may lead to the surgeon's fatigue and discomfort. METHODS: The developed navigation system includes extended augmented reality (AR), which can provide an extended viewport to a conventional endoscopic view by overlaying 3D anatomical models generated from preoperative medical images onto endoscope images. To enhance the accuracy of the developed system, we adopted state-of-the-art endoscopic calibration and tracking techniques based on an optical tracking system. RESULTS: The mean spatial errors of AR was ~1 mm, which falls in the acceptable range of accuracy for ESBS. For the simulated surgical tasks with the developed system, the number and duration of error events were decreased. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that the human subject can perform the task more precisely and safely with the developed AR-based navigation system than with the conventional endoscopic system.