Article

Robotic systems are becoming increasingly common in upper extremity
stroke rehabilitation. Recent studies have already shown that the use of
rehabilitation robots can improve recovery. This paper evaluates the effect of
different modes of robot-assistances in a complex virtual environment on the
subjects' ability to complete the task as well as on various haptic parameters
arising from the human-robot interaction. METHODS: The MIMICS multimodal system
that includes the haptic robot HapticMaster and a dynamic virtual environment is
used. The goal of the task is to catch a ball that rolls down a sloped table and
place it in a basket above the table. Our study examines the influence of
catching assistance, pick-and-place movement assistance and grasping assistance
on the catching efficiency, placing efficiency and on movement-dependent
parameters: mean reaching forces, deviation error, mechanical work and
correlation between the grasping force and the load force. RESULTS: The results
with groups of subjects (23 subacute hemiparetic subjects, 10 chronic hemiparetic
subjects and 23 control subjects) showed that the assistance raises the catching
efficiency and pick-and-place efficiency. The pick-and-place movement assistance
greatly limits the movements of the subject and results in decreased work toward
the basket. The correlation between the load force and the grasping force exists
in a certain phase of the movement. The results also showed that the stroke
subjects without assistance and the control subjects performed similarly.
CONCLUSIONS: The robot-assistances used in the study were found to be a possible
way to raise the catching efficiency and efficiency of the pick-and-place
movements in subacute and chronic subjects. The observed movement parameters
showed that robot-assistances we used for our virtual task should be improved to
maximize physical activity.

Langue : ANGLAIS