An assistive upper-limb exoskeleton controlled by multi-modal interfaces for severely impaired patients: development and experimental assessment

Gandolla, Marta; Gasperina, Stefano Dalla; Longatelli, Valeria; Manti, Alessandro; Aquilante, Lorenzo; D’Angelo, Maria Grazia; Biffi, Emilia; Diella, Eleonora; Molteni, Franco; Rossini, Mauro; Gfoehler, Margit; Puchinger, Markus; Bocciolone, M.; Braghin, Francesco; Pedrocchi, Alessandra

doi:10.1016/j.robot.2021.103822

Cited by 18 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…However, they are not applicable for individuals with complete tetraplegia. The proposed interface in this study provided continuous control contrary to the vocal control interface proposed by Gandolla et al (2021) that only afforded discrete commands, which may compromise safety also due to unintended command from the environmental noise. In addition, the Itongue system has already been used by individuals with tetraplegia for computer and wheelchair control at home and ensures higher robustness and usability compared with interfaces based on surface EEG.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…For example, the impedance/admittance control schemes operate based on minimal motions of the user, which is followed and augmented by the exoskeleton (Bai et al, 2017;Kim and Deshpande, 2017). Gandolla et al (2021) used a finger-controlled sensitive joystick and a voice control interface to control a four-DOFs ULE. Another common approach relies on the remaining volunteer control of the arm muscles and uses electromyography (EMG)/force myography (FMG) sensors for detecting the muscle contraction in order to identify the intention of the user to move the arm (Tang et al, 2014;Hosseini et al, 2017;Islam and Bai, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Eyes-Free Tongue Gesture and Tongue Joystick Control of a Five DOF Upper-Limb Exoskeleton for Severely Disabled Individuals

et al. 2021

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Spinal cord injury can leave the affected individual severely disabled with a low level of independence and quality of life. Assistive upper-limb exoskeletons are one of the solutions that can enable an individual with tetraplegia (paralysis in both arms and legs) to perform simple activities of daily living by mobilizing the arm. Providing an efficient user interface that can provide full continuous control of such a device—safely and intuitively—with multiple degrees of freedom (DOFs) still remains a challenge. In this study, a control interface for an assistive upper-limb exoskeleton with five DOFs based on an intraoral tongue-computer interface (ITCI) for individuals with tetraplegia was proposed. Furthermore, we evaluated eyes-free use of the ITCI for the first time and compared two tongue-operated control methods, one based on tongue gestures and the other based on dynamic virtual buttons and a joystick-like control. Ten able-bodied participants tongue controlled the exoskeleton for a drinking task with and without visual feedback on a screen in three experimental sessions. As a baseline, the participants performed the drinking task with a standard gamepad. The results showed that it was possible to control the exoskeleton with the tongue even without visual feedback and to perform the drinking task at 65.1% of the speed of the gamepad. In a clinical case study, an individual with tetraplegia further succeeded to fully control the exoskeleton and perform the drinking task only 5.6% slower than the able-bodied group. This study demonstrated the first single-modal control interface that can enable individuals with complete tetraplegia to fully and continuously control a five-DOF upper limb exoskeleton and perform a drinking task after only 2 h of training. The interface was used both with and without visual feedback.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eyes-Free Tongue Gesture and Tongue Joystick Control of a Five DOF Upper-Limb Exoskeleton for Severely Disabled Individuals

et al. 2021

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“…An upper limb exoskeleton is used, as several studies have successfully demonstrated how it can help restore some of the lost functionality for individuals with movement impairments in the arms [6,7]. Furthermore, the tongue-based interface has previously been shown to be an efficient and suitable interface for individuals with tetraplegia to control an exoskeleton [8,9].…”

Section: Computer Vision Tongue-based Interface Upper Limb Exoskeletonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proposed system consists of an upper limb exoskeleton as it would enable individuals with tetraplegia to regain some of the lost functionality in their arms. The idea of upper limb exoskeletons for users with movement impairments have, in several previous studies, been shown to be useful for both assistive purposes [6,11] and for rehabilitation [7,12,13].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A common approach for controlling upper limb exoskeletons is with EMG (electromyography) [7,14] to detect muscle activity, which is not feasible in case of severe tetraplegia. Other approaches require the user to control the exoskeleton using a joystick, operated by a single finger [6], which is not possible for complete functional tetraplegia either. Others have explored the idea of using eye movements [13] or voice commands [6] to allow individuals with movement impairments to interface with an upper limb exoskeleton.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Computer Vision-Based Adaptive Semi-Autonomous Control of an Upper Limb Exoskeleton for Individuals with Tetraplegia

et al. 2022

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We propose the use of computer vision for adaptive semi-autonomous control of an upper limb exoskeleton for assisting users with severe tetraplegia to increase independence and quality of life. A tongue-based interface was used together with the semi-autonomous control such that individuals with complete tetraplegia were able to use it despite being paralyzed from the neck down. The semi-autonomous control uses computer vision to detect nearby objects and estimate how to grasp them to assist the user in controlling the exoskeleton. Three control schemes were tested: non-autonomous (i.e., manual control using the tongue) control, semi-autonomous control with a fixed level of autonomy, and a semi-autonomous control with a confidence-based adaptive level of autonomy. Studies on experimental participants with and without tetraplegia were carried out. The control schemes were evaluated both in terms of their performance, such as the time and number of commands needed to complete a given task, as well as ratings from the users. The studies showed a clear and significant improvement in both performance and user ratings when using either of the semi-autonomous control schemes. The adaptive semi-autonomous control outperformed the fixed version in some scenarios, namely, in the more complex tasks and with users with more training in using the system.

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A Robotic Assistant for Disabled Chess Players in Competitive Games

Pozzi,

Guerini,

Arrigoni

et al. 2023

Int J of Soc Robotics

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Access to regular sports competitions is often precluded for disabled people. Chess, which has been recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, is a rare exception. Nevertheless, to compete in official tournaments, people suffering from a high level of motor impairment must rely on the assistance of a person to move their pieces on the chessboard, under their indications. This can result in a reduction of the feeling of independence and self-esteem. In this work, a service robot is employed as an assistant for competitive chess players, moving pieces on a standard chessboard for competitions, and adhering to the rules of the international chess federation (e.g. not relying on a custom sensorized chess-set). The robot is controlled through an intuitive graphical user interface. The user interface can be navigated with easy-to-use devices, such as a mouse, a touchpad, or a commodity joystick for motion-impaired people (Ottobock calibratable Mini joystick). An effective framework for the opponent’s move identification from RGB-D images is proposed and used to keep track of the live game situation. The application is implemented in ROS on a PAL Robotics TIAGo robot, a service robot with a 7 degrees-of-freedom arm, an extensible torso, and a re-orientable RGB-D camera. The robustness of the application is tested by reproducing six famous chess games several times on a standard wooden competition chessboard, making TIAGo play on behalf of the player with white or black pieces, alternatively. The application is properly working without the need of operator intervention in the $$91.6\%$$ 91.6 % of the performed moves. The proposed approach successfully opens the door to independent competitive chess playing for motor disabled people in official tournaments.

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An assistive upper-limb exoskeleton controlled by multi-modal interfaces for severely impaired patients: development and experimental assessment

Cited by 18 publications

References 32 publications

Eyes-Free Tongue Gesture and Tongue Joystick Control of a Five DOF Upper-Limb Exoskeleton for Severely Disabled Individuals

Eyes-Free Tongue Gesture and Tongue Joystick Control of a Five DOF Upper-Limb Exoskeleton for Severely Disabled Individuals

Computer Vision-Based Adaptive Semi-Autonomous Control of an Upper Limb Exoskeleton for Individuals with Tetraplegia

A Robotic Assistant for Disabled Chess Players in Competitive Games

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