Stability of Mina v2 for Robot-Assisted Balance and Locomotion

Mummolo, Carlotta; Peng, William Z.; Agarwal, Shlok; Griffin, Robert J.; Neuhaus, Peter; Kim, Joo H.

doi:10.3389/fnbot.2018.00062

Cited by 30 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Bearing this in mind, it is of particular importance to investigate the human-exoskeleton interaction in terms of potential inferences with human motor control mechanisms. Especially the assessment of human balance is critical to evaluate the compatibility and operator safety of LLExos (Mummolo et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does a Passive Unilateral Lower Limb Exoskeleton Affect Human Static and Dynamic Balance Control?

Ringhof

Patzer

Beil

et al. 2019

Front. Sports Act. Living

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Exoskeletons are wearable devices closely coupled to the human, which can interact with the musculoskeletal system, e. g., to augment physical and functional capabilities. A main prerequisite for the development and application of exoskeletons is to investigate the human-exoskeleton interaction, particularly in terms of potential inferences with human motor control. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a passive unilateral lower limb exoskeleton has an impact on static and dynamic reactive balance control. Eleven healthy subjects (22.9 ± 2.5 years, five females) volunteered for this study and performed three different balance tasks: bipedal standing, single-leg standing, and platform perturbations in single-leg standing. All the balance tasks were conducted with and without a passive unilateral lower limb exoskeleton, while force plates and a motion capture system were used to capture the center of pressure mean sway velocity and the time to stabilization, respectively. Dependent t-tests were separately run for both static balance tests, and a repeated-measure analysis of variance with factors exoskeleton and direction of perturbation was calculated for the dynamic reactive balance task. The exoskeleton did not significantly influence postural sway in bipedal stance. However, in single-leg stance, the mediolateral mean sway velocity of the center of pressure was significantly shorter for the exoskeleton condition. For the dynamic reactive balance task, the participants tended to regain stability less quickly with the exoskeleton, as indicated by a large effect size and longer time to stabilization for all directions of perturbation. In summary, the study showed that the exoskeleton provided some assistive support under static conditions, which however may disappear when sufficient stability is available (bipedal stance). Besides, the exoskeleton tended to impair dynamic reactive balance, potentially by impeding adequate compensatory adjustments. These are important findings with strong implications for the future design and application of exoskeletons, emphasizing the significance of taking into account the mechanisms of human motor control.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does a Passive Unilateral Lower Limb Exoskeleton Affect Human Static and Dynamic Balance Control?

Ringhof

Patzer

Beil

et al. 2019

Front. Sports Act. Living

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“…This observation seems consistent with the present study, because compensation by the reflex did not affect motor modules, whereas that by the CPG did. Robot assisted locomotor training is a useful means for treatment of impaired locomotion (Jezernik et al, 2003; Kawamoto et al, 2013; Molteni et al, 2017; Watanabe et al, 2017) and the devices have been drastically improved to date (Beckerle et al, 2017; Gandolla et al, 2018; Mummolo et al, 2018). Tan et al (2018) reported that robotic-assisted locomotor training for stroke patients improves walking speed, step cadence, stance duration percentage of gait cycle, but does not increase the number of motor modules.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pathological Condition Affects Motor Modules in a Bipedal Locomotion Model

Ichimura¹,

Yamazaki²

2019

Front. Neurorobot.

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Bipedal locomotion is a basic motor activity that requires simultaneous control of multiple muscles. Physiological experiments suggest that the nervous system controls bipedal locomotion efficiently by using motor modules of synergistic muscle activations. If these modules were merged, abnormal locomotion patterns would be realized as observed in patients with neural impairments such as chronic stroke. However, sub-acute patients have been reported not to show such merged motor modules. Therefore, in this study, we examined what conditions in the nervous system merges motor modules. we built a two-dimensional bipedal locomotion model that included a musculoskeletal model with 7 segments and 18 muscles, a neural system with a hierarchical central pattern generator (CPG), and various feedback inputs from reflex organs. The CPG generated synergistic muscle activations comprising 5 motor modules to produce locomotion phases. Our model succeeded to acquire stable locomotion by using the motor modules and reflexes. Next, we examined how a pathological condition altered motor modules. Specifically, we weakened neural inputs to muscles on one leg to simulate a stroke condition. Immediately after the simulated stroke, the model did not walk. Then, internal parameters were modified to recover stable locomotion. We refitted either (a) reflex parameters or (b) CPG parameters to compensate the locomotion by adapting (a) reflexes or (b) the controller. Stable locomotion was recovered in both conditions. However the motor modules were merged only in (b). These results suggest that light or sub-acute stroke patients, who can compensate stable locomotion by just adapting reflexes, would not show merge of motor modules, whereas severe or chronic patients, who needed to adapt the controller for compensation, would show the merge, as consistent with experimental findings.

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“…Details of the numerical optimization algorithm and its solution via sequential quadratic programming can be found in previous work ( Mummolo et al, 2018b ). The construction method of the balance threshold has been demonstrated for the study of gait and posture stability of human, robot, and exoskeleton systems ( Mummolo et al, 2017 ; Mummolo et al, 2018a ; Mummolo et al, 2018b ; Mummolo and Vicentini, 2020 ; Mummolo et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Simultaneous Balance Assessment and Training Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Computational Framework Towards the Tele-Rehabilitation of Balance Control Skills

Akbaş

Mummolo

2021

Front. Robot. AI

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Mobility has been one of the most impacted aspects of human life due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Home confinement, the lack of access to physical rehabilitation, and prolonged immobilization of COVID-19-positive patients within hospitals are three major factors that affected the mobility of the general population world-wide. Balance is one key indicator to monitor the possible movement disorders that may arise both during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the coming future post-COVID-19. A systematic quantification of the balance performance in the general population is essential for preventing the appearance and progression of certain diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and musculoskeletal), as well as for assessing the therapeutic outcomes of prescribed physical exercises for elderly and pathological patients. Current research on clinical exercises and associated outcome measures of balance is still far from reaching a consensus on a “golden standard” practice. Moreover, patients are often reluctant or unable to follow prescribed exercises, because of overcrowded facilities, lack of reliable and safe transportation, or stay-at-home orders due to the current pandemic. A novel balance assessment methodology, in combination with a home-care technology, can overcome these limitations. This paper presents a computational framework for the in-home quantitative assessment of balance control skills. Novel outcome measures of balance performance are implemented in the design of rehabilitation exercises with customized and quantifiable training goals. Using this framework in conjunction with a portable technology, physicians can treat and diagnose patients remotely, with reduced time and costs and a highly customized approach. The methodology proposed in this research can support the development of innovative technologies for smart and connected home-care solutions for physical therapy rehabilitation.

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Stability of Mina v2 for Robot-Assisted Balance and Locomotion

Cited by 30 publications

References 44 publications

Does a Passive Unilateral Lower Limb Exoskeleton Affect Human Static and Dynamic Balance Control?

Does a Passive Unilateral Lower Limb Exoskeleton Affect Human Static and Dynamic Balance Control?

A Pathological Condition Affects Motor Modules in a Bipedal Locomotion Model

A Computational Framework Towards the Tele-Rehabilitation of Balance Control Skills

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