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Human Evaluation of Wheelchair Robot for Active Postural Support (WRAPS)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2019

Chawin Ophaswongse Open the ORCID record for Chawin Ophaswongse [Opens in a new window] ,
Rosemarie C. Murray ,
Victor Santamaria ,
Qining Wang Open the ORCID record for Qining Wang [Opens in a new window]  and
Sunil K. Agrawal
Chawin Ophaswongse
Affiliation:
Robotics and Rehabilitation Laboratory (ROAR Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mails: co2393@columbia.edu, rcm2146@columbia.edu, vs2578@columbia.edu
Rosemarie C. Murray
Affiliation:
Robotics and Rehabilitation Laboratory (ROAR Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mails: co2393@columbia.edu, rcm2146@columbia.edu, vs2578@columbia.edu
Victor Santamaria
Affiliation:
Robotics and Rehabilitation Laboratory (ROAR Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mails: co2393@columbia.edu, rcm2146@columbia.edu, vs2578@columbia.edu
Qining Wang
Affiliation:
The Robotics Research Group, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. E-mail: qiningwang@pku.edu.cn
Sunil K. Agrawal*
Affiliation:
Robotics and Rehabilitation Laboratory (ROAR Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mails: co2393@columbia.edu, rcm2146@columbia.edu, vs2578@columbia.edu
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: sa3077@columbia.edu
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Summary

People with severe neuromuscular trunk impairment cannot maintain or control upright posture of the upper body in sitting while reaching. Passive orthoses are clinically available to provide support and promote the use of upper extremities in this population. However, these orthoses only position the torso passively without any degree of trunk movement.

We introduce for the first time a novel active-assistive torso brace called Wheelchair Robot for Active Postural Support (WRAPS). It consists of two rings over the hips and chest connected by a 2RPS-2UPS parallel robotic device. WRAPS can modulate the displacement of the upper ring and/or the forces applied on the torso through the ring in four degrees-of-freedom (DOF), including rotations and translation in the sagittal and frontal planes.

In the present study, we evaluate the design of WRAPS and its functions. Moreover, we discuss the potential effectiveness of WRAPS as a therapeutic robotic tool in people with severe trunk control deficits. The performance of WRAPS was evaluated in seated healthy subjects. Kinematics and surface electromyography (sEMG) were collected when the participants performed selective trunk movements. First, the torso range of motion (tROM) was calculated with WRAPS in transparent mode—zero-force control mode—which was compared with free-guided tROM (no WRAPS) with motion capture system. Second, a position control mode was configured to mobilize the torso along the trajectories obtained with the transparent mode.

Our results show that the design of WRAPS suited well the subject’s anthropometrics while supporting the weight of the torso. Importantly, WRAPS can be programmed to replicate the subject’s tROM, without the full activation of torso muscles. This can be critical in individuals with no trunk control. Altogether, these preliminary results indicate the potential applicability of WRAPS to promote active-assistive trunk mobility in people who cannot sit independently because of trunk dysfunction.

Keywords

Wearable roboticsExoskeletonsParallel manipulatorsTrunk impairmentHuman biomechanics
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 37 , Special Issue 12: Wearable Robotics: Dynamics, Control and Applications , December 2019 , pp. 2132 - 2146
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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