Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Upper limb rehabilitation through bicycle controlling
Submission Author:
Leonardo Marquez Pedro , SP , Brazil
Co-Authors:
Leonardo Marquez Pedro, Lucas Cardoso, Marcela Martelleto, Paulo Marcos AGUIAR, Etienne Burdet, Glauco Caurin, Rafael Aroca
Presenter: Lucas Cardoso
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-2469
Abstract
Stroke survivors generally present upper or lower limbs sensory-motor deficits. As a consequence, activities recruiting two or more limbs – like walking, bimanual tasks or even riding a bicycle – are impaired. The great majority of rehabilitation therapies, from the conventional to the technology-assisted, focus on the most affected limb, neglecting cooperative activities with other limbs. According to recent studies, rehabilitation of the most affected limbs does not lead to the recovery of functions that require cooperation with the less affected, as previously hypothesized. On the other hand, recent studies point out that therapies which involve cooperation among limbs, like cycling a bicycle, may result in recover of others distinct activities – like walking and unilateral manipulation. This work presents the development of a robotic version of a bicycle handlebar. The device has two sensors in order to measure grip forces of the hands, the speed and amplitude of the movements when twisting the handlebar and a controlled electric motor as actuator responsible to apply torque resistance when the handlebar is moved. Pilot experiments with health volunteers, the authors, were conducted. As concept proof, this paper presents the device and discusses the preliminary results and next steps of the project.
Keywords
stroke rehabilitation, biomechanics, robotic rehabilitation, assessment, mechatonics
