AMBER: a device for hand motor and cognitive rehabilitation. Development and Proof of Concept.

Stroke survivors usually exhibit concurrent motor and cognitive impairment. Historically, rehabilitation strategies post-stroke occur separately in terms of motor and cognitive functions. However, recent studies show that hand motor interventions can have a positive impact on cognitive recovery. In this work, we introduce AMBER (portAble and Modular device for comprehensive Brain Evaluation and Rehabilitation), a new device developed for the evaluation and rehabilitation of both hand motor function and cognition simultaneously. AMBER is a simple, portable, ergonomic and cheap device based on Force Sensitive Resistors, in which every finger interaction is recorded to provide information about finger strength, processing speed, and memory status. This paper presents the requirements of the device and the design of the system. In addition, a pilot study was conducted with 36 healthy individuals using the evaluation module of the device to assess its psychometric properties, as test-retest reliability and measurement error. Its validity was also evaluated comparing its measurements with three different gold standards for strength, processing speed and memory. The device showed good test-retest reliability for strength (ICC=0.741-0.852), reaction time (ICC=0.715 - 0.900) and memory (ICC=0.556-0.885). These measures were correlated with their corresponding gold standards (r=0.780-890). AMBER shows great potential to impact hand rehabilitation, offering therapists a valid, reliable and versatile tool to comprehensively assess patients. With ongoing advancements and refinements, it has the opportunity to significantly impact rehabilitation practices and improve patient outcomes.

Novel Methods for Personalized Gait Assistance: Three-Dimensional Trajectory Prediction Based on Regression and LSTM Models.

Enhancing human-robot interaction has been a primary focus in robotic gait assistance, with a thorough understanding of human motion being crucial for personalizing gait assistance. Traditional gait trajectory references from Clinical Gait Analysis (CGA) face limitations due to their inability to account for individual variability. Recent advancements in gait pattern generators, integrating regression models and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques, have aimed at providing more personalized and dynamically adaptable solutions. This article introduces a novel approach that expands regression and ANN applications beyond mere angular estimations to include three-dimensional spatial predictions. Unlike previous methods, our approach provides comprehensive spatial trajectories for hip, knee and ankle tailored to individual kinematics, significantly enhancing end-effector rehabilitation robotic devices. Our models achieve state-of-the-art accuracy: overall RMSE of 13.40 mm and a correlation coefficient of 0.92 for the regression model, and RMSE of 12.57 mm and a correlation of 0.99 for the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model. These advancements underscore the potential of these models to offer more personalized gait trajectory assistance, improving human-robot interactions.

Individualized Three-Dimensional Gait Pattern Generator for Lower Limbs Rehabilitation Robots.

In the field of robotic gait rehabilitation, controlling robotic devices to follow specific human-like trajectories is often required. In recent years, various gait generator models have been proposed, providing customized gait patterns adjustable to a range of heights and gait speeds. However, these models were developed with a focus on gait rehabilitation devices designed to control the angular trajectories of the subject's joints, e.g. exoskeletons. Similar devices, e.g. end-effector robots, control the orientation and also the 3D position of the subject's joints and cannot easily implement these models. In this study, it is proposed a new individualized three-dimensional gait pattern generator for gait rehabilitation robots. The generator employs multi-variable regression models to predict the joint angular trajectories of the pelvis, hip, and ankle along the gait cycle. The 3D joints positions are then reconstructed by applying the predicted angular trajectories over a human model inspired on the inverted pendulum analogy using inverse kinematics. The generator's performance was statistically evaluated against real gait patterns from 42 participants walking at 8 different velocities. The predicted trajectories matched the measured ones with an average Root Mean Squared Error of 25.73 mm for all joints at all Cartesian axes, with better results between 3.3 - 5.4 km/h. Suggesting to be a good solution to be applied in end-effector gait robotic rehabilitation devices.

A Review on Wearable Technologies for Tremor Suppression.

Tremor is defined as a rhythmic, involuntary oscillatory movement of a body part. Although everyone exhibits a certain degree of tremor, some pathologies lead to very disabling tremors. These pathological tremors constitute the most prevalent movement disorder, and they imply severe difficulties in performing activities of daily living. Although tremors are currently managed through pharmacotherapy or surgery, these treatments present significant associated drawbacks: drugs often induce side effects and show decreased effectiveness over years of use, while surgery is a hazardous procedure for a very low percentage of eligible patients. In this context, recent research demonstrated the feasibility of managing upper limb tremors through wearable technologies that suppress tremors by modifying limb biomechanics or applying counteracting forces. Furthermore, recent experiments with transcutaneous afferent stimulation showed significant tremor attenuation. In this regard, this article reviews the devices developed following these tremor management paradigms, such as robotic exoskeletons, soft robotic exoskeletons, and transcutaneous neurostimulators. These works are presented, and their effectiveness is discussed. The article also evaluates the different metrics used for the validation of these devices and the lack of a standard validation procedure that allows the comparison among them.

Development and Evaluation of BenchBalance: A System for Benchmarking Balance Capabilities of Wearable Robots and Their Users.

Recent advances in the control of overground exoskeletons are being centered on improving balance support and decreasing the reliance on crutches. However, appropriate methods to quantify the stability of these exoskeletons (and their users) are still under development. A reliable and reproducible balance assessment is critical to enrich exoskeletons' performance and their interaction with humans. In this work, we present the BenchBalance system, which is a benchmarking solution to conduct reproducible balance assessments of exoskeletons and their users. Integrating two key elements, i.e., a hand-held perturbator and a smart garment, BenchBalance is a portable and low-cost system that provides a quantitative assessment related to the reaction and capacity of wearable exoskeletons and their users to respond to controlled external perturbations. A software interface is used to guide the experimenter throughout a predefined protocol of measurable perturbations, taking into account antero-posterior and mediolateral responses. In total, the protocol is composed of sixteen perturbation conditions, which vary in magnitude and location while still controlling their orientation. The data acquired by the interface are classified and saved for a subsequent analysis based on synthetic metrics. In this paper, we present a proof of principle of the BenchBalance system with a healthy user in two scenarios: subject not wearing and subject wearing the H2 lower-limb exoskeleton. After a brief training period, the experimenter was able to provide the manual perturbations of the protocol in a consistent and reproducible way. The balance metrics defined within the BenchBalance framework were able to detect differences in performance depending on the perturbation magnitude, location, and the presence or not of the exoskeleton. The BenchBalance system will be integrated at EUROBENCH facilities to benchmark the balance capabilities of wearable exoskeletons and their users.

Caso Clínico: Uso de Biomodelos Tridimensionales para la Planificación Preoperatoria de Tumores Craneales Fronto - orbitarios / Case Report: Use of Tridimensional Biomodels for Surgical Planning in Fronto-orbital Bone Tumors

INTRODUCCIÓN: La impresión tridimensional de biomodelos ha demostrado en los últimos años ser de gran utilidad para el diagnóstico, tratamiento y planificación preoperatoria en prácticamente todas las especialidades quirúrgicas. En este reporte se presenta la experiencia inicial con el empleo de biomodelos tridimensionales, para la planificación pre quirúrgica de un paciente con displasia fibrosa fronto-orbitaria operado en Cuenca, Ecuador. CASO CLÍNICO: Paciente de sexo masculino de 11 años de edad que desde hace 4 años presentó una¿ masa frontal derecha dura, inmóvil, no dolorosa, de crecimiento progresivo, que produjo deformidad orbitaria con exoftalmia e hipotropia. La tomografía craneal demostró una lesión ósea de núcleo hipodenso, de 5 cm de diámetro mayor, con compromiso del techo de la órbita, porción lateral del seno paranasal frontal y extensión intracraneal extradural. EVOLUCIÓN: Para planificar la cirugía se elaboró un modelo óseo tridimensional que se usó para explicar al paciente y sus padres el objetivo del procedimiento y como se realizaría. El día de la intervención, se dibujaron las osteotomías y craneotomía en el modelo anatómico, plan que se aplicó exactamente en el paciente. El postoperatorio transcurrió sin novedades, la tomografía computarizada de control evidenció una resección completa de la lesión y una adecuada reconstrucción orbitaria. El paciente y sus familiares se mostraron muy satisfechos con las explicaciones dadas. CONCLUSIONES: La impresión 3D es una herramienta que cada vez gana más espacio en la docencia y también en la planificación quirúrgica pues permite disponer de modelos anatómicos muy precisos y simular el procedimiento operatorio, antes de realizar el procedimiento en el paciente real. (AU)

BACKGROUND: 3Dprinting of biomodels has shown in recent years to be very useful for diagnosis,treatmentandpreoperativeplanninginpracticallyall surgical specialties. Inthis reportispresentedthe initial experiencewiththeuseoftridimensionalbiomodels,forpre-surgicalplanninginapatientwithfronto-orbital fibrous dysplasia operated in Cuenca, Ecuador. CASE REPORT: An 11 years old boy presented with a 4-year history of a slow-growing, hard, non-mobile, painless rightfrontalmass which caused orbital deformity, proptosis, and hypotropia. Cranial Computer Tomography showed a 5 cm bone tumor with hypodense center compromising the orbital roof and the lateral aspect ofthe frontal paranasal sinus with intracranial extradural expansion. EVOLUTION: To design the surgery, a tridimensional bone model was elaborated and used to explain the patient and his parents the aim of the procedure and how it will be performed. The day of the intervention, the osteotomies and craniotomy were drawn on the anatomical model, plan that was exactly applied to the patient. The postoperative period was uneventful, control CT scan showed a complete resection of the lesion and an adequate orbital reconstruction. The patient and his relatives were very satisfied with the explanations given. CONCLUSIONS: 3D printing is a very useful surgical tool with wide applications in planning and education that allows simulate in very accurate biomodels an operative procedure before it was done in the actual patient(AU)