This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes a unique robotic system for upper-extremity rehabilitation for stroke survivors that combines dynamic arm-support with manipulation of physicalobjects. The system will be developed by integrating a component called AirCradleâ¢, to be designed andimplemented during the proposed project, with Barrett Technology's existing Burt® medical device robot.Burt® is an FDA-listed upper-extremity rehabilitation robot that supports (as needed) the weight of a patient'sarm and hand while the patient moves his/her arm to interact with on-screen games. Burt® offers guidedassistance, visual and haptic feedback, and activities and assessments to both help train the patient andmeasure progress. Clinical studies have shown that Burt® can be used to improve patients' performance of grossarm-reaching movements. However, the system lacks a component suitable to train distal functions (i.e., themanipulation of objects).To expand the capabilities of Burt®, we propose to develop the AirCradle⢠system. The AirCradle⢠is ahardware and software "add-on" to the base Burt® system that enables the patient to manipulate real objectsduring goal-driven gameplay while physically assisted by the Burt® robotic arm. An integrated camera system"reflects" the image of the patient in a mirror-like fashion while also tracking the state of physical objects. Thesoftware blends physical and virtual goals and gameplay with robot-assisted unweighing and target-guidance.The proposed Phase I activities are grouped into three aims.In the first aim, the team will develop the hardware at the end of the robot arm that physically connects to andguides the patient's arm while streaming rotary joint-angle positions to the base Burt robot.In the second aim, the team will develop a camera-based system to track the physical objects and present amirror-like view of the patient and objects within the context of a goal-based virtual game.In the third aim, stakeholders consisting of rehabilitation specialists and stroke survivors will provide usabilityfeedback via a focus group and a pilot study. This data along with the engineering testing and verificationactivities will be used to assure that "go"/"no-go" criteria are met before moving to Phase II.The long-term commercial and societal goal is to provide a flexible robotic therapy system that assists strokesurvivors in interacting with and manipulating objects to provide sustainable and affordable therapy to increasetheir ability to perform activities of daily living.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative Stroke is the most common neurological injury with 650,000 survivors annually and more than 80% of them losing at least some arm movement. During upper-extremity rehabilitation, it is important for patients to interact with everyday objects to help recover use of their affected limb and eventually be able to perform activities of daily living. This proposal aims to develop a novel rehabilitation tool named AirCradle⢠that will provide large- workspace active-arm therapy while patients manipulate real objects through immersive goal-driven gameplay.
Project Terms: Activities of Daily Living ; Activities of everyday life ; daily living functionality ; functional ability ; functional capacity ; Adult ; 21+ years old ; Adult Human ; adulthood ; Affect ; Brain ; Brain Nervous System ; Encephalon ; Clinical Research ; Clinical Study ; Elbow ; Engineering ; Environment ; Exercise ; Limb structure ; Extremities ; Limbs ; Non-Trunk ; Feedback ; Focus Groups ; Freedom ; Liberty ; Goals ; Hand ; Joints ; Learning ; Medical Device ; Movement ; body movement ; Muscle ; Muscle Tissue ; muscular ; Names ; Patient Education ; Patient Instruction ; Patient Training ; Patients ; Pilot Projects ; pilot study ; Recurrence ; Recurrent ; Rehabilitation therapy ; Medical Rehabilitation ; Rehabilitation ; rehab therapy ; rehabilitative ; rehabilitative therapy ; research and development ; Development and Research ; R & D ; R&D ; Research Personnel ; Investigators ; Researchers ; Robotics ; Shoulder ; Computer software ; Software ; Stroke ; Apoplexy ; Brain Vascular Accident ; Cerebral Stroke ; Cerebrovascular Apoplexy ; Cerebrovascular Stroke ; brain attack ; cerebral vascular accident ; cerebrovascular accident ; Technology ; Testing ; Translating ; United States ; Weight ; Work ; Measures ; Healthcare ; health care ; Specialist ; base ; sensory feedback ; sensor ; improved ; stroke rehabilitation ; rehabilitation after stroke ; stroke rehab ; Distal ; Area ; Clinical ; Phase ; Survivors ; Link ; grasp ; Grips ; Training ; Lesion ; disability ; Recovery ; Robot ; tool ; Life ; mechanical ; Mechanics ; Severities ; Stream ; System ; 3-D ; 3D ; three dimensional ; 3-Dimensional ; Location ; Chronic Phase ; interest ; Using hands ; Hand functions ; Performance ; physical state ; visual feedback ; synergism ; novel ; Position ; Positioning Attribute ; Nervous System Injuries ; Nervous System damage ; Neurological Damage ; Neurological Injury ; Neurological trauma ; neurotrauma ; Nervous System Trauma ; Intervention Strategies ; interventional strategy ; Intervention ; Membrum superius ; Upper Limb ; Upper Extremity ; Address ; Data ; Motor ; Small Business Innovation Research Grant ; SBIR ; Small Business Innovation Research ; Update ; Preparation ; Process ; Development ; developmental ; Image ; imaging ; post stroke ; after stroke ; poststroke ; virtual ; robot assistance ; robot assisted ; robotic assistance ; design ; designing ; Outcome ; Population ; Impairment ; usability ; hand rehabilitation ; hand function rehabilitation ; hand function restoration ; hand rehab ; improve hand function ; improvement in hand function ; recover hand function ; recovery of hand function ; restore hand function ; prototype ; flexibility ; flexible ; arm ; motor function recovery ; recovered motor function ; hand grasp ; motor recovery ; arm movement ; robot rehabilitation ; robotic rehabilitation ; robot therapy ; robotic therapy ; Augmented Reality ; stroke survivor ; robot control ; robotic control ; recruit ; robotic system ; Patient imaging ; haptic feedback ; Immersion ;
