A new study describes how the therapy of rehabilitation, represented by robot, can evaluate the muscular activity and the dysfunction of the movement in the survivors of a cerebro-vascular accident, helping to improve his mobility.

Developed by investigators of the National Institute of Science and Ulsan’s Technology (UNIST, Republic of Korea), the Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea) and other institutions, the robotic system of rehabilitation measures the prono-supinación of the forearm, the flexion – extension of the wrist and the radial-ulnar diversion (collectivly known as the impedance of three degrees of freedom (3DOF), in a few minutes. The system uses the control of the impedance, based on a model distal, internally, (dIMBIC), that characterizes with accuracy the impedance 3DOF of the forearm and the wrist, included the inertia, the dulling and the inflexibility.

The accuracy and reliability of the system were validated experimentally using a robot with a not linear substantial friction of the union. The impedance 3DOF of the forearm and the wrist, human beings, of eight healthy individuals could be characterized in a trustworthy way, and his linear behavior helped to check the method based in dIMBIC. The investigators suggest that the estimation of the impedance dIMBIC 3DOF can promote the studies of motive control and complement the diagnosis of the upset resistance of the wrist and the forearm, post cerebro-vascular accident, supplying objective calculations of the impedance, including terms of crossed coupling. Rehabilitation Engineering was published the study in the edition of May, 2017 of the magazine IEEE Neural Transactions on Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

” It is possible to use the method based in dIMBIC to help in the quantitative and objective evaluation of the neurological diseases, as the apoplexy “, said the top author, the teacher Sang Hoon Kang, PhD, of the laboratory of engineering of the rehabilitation and robotics, in the department of system design and engineering control. ” The findings of this study will open a new chapter in the rehabilitation represented by robot in the hospitals of rehabilitation of work accidents, as well as in amenity centers and centers of assisted life “.

The movement of the top human member has been studied in detail, with the basic movements defined as roll – a rotating movement; pendulum – a lateral movement in a horizontal plane; and abduction – a movement up and down in the vertical plane. The top human member has seven degrees of freedom: three in the shoulder, one in the elbow and other three in the wrist.