Recent trends in robotic systems for upper-limb stroke recovery: A low-cost hand and wrist rehabilitation device

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almusawi Husam AbdulKareem ◽  
Afghan Syeda Adila ◽  
Geza Husi
Keyword(s):  
Upper Limb ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Stroke Recovery ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Recent Trends

Electrostatic bellow muscle actuators and energy harvesters that stack up

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (51) ◽  
pp. eaaz5796
Author(s):  
I. D. Sîrbu ◽  
G. Moretti ◽  
G. Bortolotti ◽  
M. Bolignari ◽  
S. Diré ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Artificial Muscle ◽  
Pressure Head ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Maximum Pressure ◽  
Term Operation ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Out Of Plane

Future robotic systems will be pervasive technologies operating autonomously in unknown spaces that are shared with humans. Such complex interactions make it compulsory for them to be lightweight, soft, and efficient in a way to guarantee safety, robustness, and long-term operation. Such a set of qualities can be achieved using soft multipurpose systems that combine, integrate, and commute between conventional electromechanical and fluidic drives, as well as harvest energy during inactive actuation phases for increased energy efficiency. Here, we present an electrostatic actuator made of thin films and liquid dielectrics combined with rigid polymeric stiffening elements to form a circular electrostatic bellow muscle (EBM) unit capable of out-of-plane contraction. These units are easy to manufacture and can be arranged in arrays and stacks, which can be used as a contractile artificial muscle, as a pump for fluid-driven soft robots, or as an energy harvester. As an artificial muscle, EBMs of 20 to 40 millimeters in diameter can exert forces of up to 6 newtons, lift loads over a hundred times their own weight, and reach contractions of over 40% with strain rates over 1200% per second, with a bandwidth over 10 hertz. As a pump driver, these EBMs produce flow rates of up to 0.63 liters per minute and maximum pressure head of 6 kilopascals, whereas as generator, they reach a conversion efficiency close to 20%. The compact shape, low cost, simple assembling procedure, high reliability, and large contractions make the EBM a promising technology for high-performance robotic systems.

Carbon Dioxide as a Carbon Resource – Recent Trends and Perspectives

2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (10) ◽  
pp. 961-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Hölscher ◽  
Christoph Gürtler ◽  
Wilhelm Keim ◽  
Thomas E. Müller ◽  
Martina Peters ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Polymeric Materials ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Chemical Research ◽  
Bond Forming ◽  
Bulk Chemicals ◽  
High Thermodynamic Stability ◽  
Recent Trends

With the growing perception of industrialized societies that fossil raw materials are limited resources, academic chemical research and chemical industry have started to introduce novel catalytic technologies which aim at the development of economically competitive processes relying much more strongly on the use of alternative carbon feedstocks. Great interest is given world-wide to carbon dioxide (CO2) as it is part of the global carbon cycle, nontoxic, easily available in sufficient quantities anywhere in the industrialized world, and can be managed technically with ease, and at low cost. In principle carbon dioxide can be used to generate a large variety of synthetic products ranging from bulk chemicals like methanol and formic acid, through polymeric materials, to fine chemicals like aromatic acids useful in the pharmaceutical industry. Owing to the high thermodynamic stability of CO2, the energy constraints of chemical reactions have to be carefully analyzed to select promising processes. Furthermore, the high kinetic barriers for incorporation of CO2 into C-H or C-C bond forming reactions require that any novel transformation of CO2 must inevitably be associated with a novel catalytic technology. This short review comprises a selection of the most recent academic and industrial research developments mainly with regard to innovations in CO2 chemistry in the field of homogeneous catalysis and processes.

scholarly journals Muscle Activation during Exergame Playing

2016 ◽  
pp. 312-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooya Soltani ◽  
João Paulo Vilas-Boas
Keyword(s):  
Upper Limb ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Coding System ◽  
User Research ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Upper Trapezius ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Muscular Coordination

Exergames may provide low-cost solutions for playing, training and rehabilitation. Exergame user research, studies the interaction between an exergame and users, in order to provide feedback for game developers and safe and meaningful game play. Detailed evaluations and a coding system based on muscle activation levels are necessary to characterize. This is important when it comes to use exergames in purposes other than fun. The purpose of this chapter was to characterize the muscle activation during a swimming exergame and to compare the level of activation during different conditions. Healthy subjects played bouts of exergame using Xbox360 and Kinect. Muscle activation was monitored for desired muscles on dominant upper limb using wireless electromyography system. An investigation of muscular coordination was also conducted to provide activation sequences of studied muscles. Preliminary results showed that upper trapezius was the most active muscle in all techniques. Results can provide insights for practitioners to have a baseline on application of exergames in their routines.

Towards a virtual work-bench for robotics training

Robotica ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 575-582
Author(s):  
Jiming Liu
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Work ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Information Superhighway ◽  
Knowledge Space ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Electronic Learning ◽  
Needed Information ◽  
On Line

SUMMARYLearning in the age of information superhighway necessitates a properly-developed efficient vehicle that is not only powerful in directing users to the needed information or to situate in a reality through virtual settings, but also controllable at the various comfortable paces. The goal of this project is to explore a new on-line medium for users to navigate at their own pace in the structured cyberspace—knowledge space composed of concepts, systems design, application-oriented case studies, up-to-date industrial news (trends and product review), and on-line robotic systems, and to use it as a robotics work-bench for conducting controllable experiments/simulations. Through such an electronic learning medium, users will be able to acquire a global outlook as well as an integrated understanding of modern robotics in a manner that is low-cost, time-and-place-free, and student-centered.

Effects of proximal and distal robot-assisted upper limb rehabilitation on chronic stroke recovery

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Mazzoleni ◽  
Patrizio Sale ◽  
Marco Franceschini ◽  
Samuele Bigazzi ◽  
Maria Chiara Carrozza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Limb ◽  
Chronic Stroke ◽  
Stroke Recovery ◽  
Robot Assisted ◽  
Upper Limb Rehabilitation ◽  
Limb Rehabilitation

Autonomous Docking of Hybrid-Wheeled Modular Robots with an Integrated Active Genderless Docking Mechanism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Shubhdildeep S. Sohal ◽  
Bijo Sebastian ◽  
Pinhas Ben-Tzvi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Servoing ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Image Plane ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Modular Robots ◽  
Tracking Accuracy ◽  
Drive Mechanism ◽  
Docking Mechanism ◽  
Autonomous Docking

Abstract This paper presents a self-reconfigurable modular robot with an integrated 2-DOF active docking mechanism. Active docking in modular robotic systems has received a lot of interest recently as it allows small versatile robotic systems to coalesce and achieve the structural benefits of large systems. This feature enables reconfigurable modular robotic systems to bridge the gap between small agile systems and larger robotic systems. The proposed self-reconfigurable mobile robot design exhibits dual mobility using a tracked drive mechanism for longitudinal locomotion and a wheeled drive mechanism for lateral locomotion. The 2-DOF docking interface allows for efficient docking while tolerating misalignments. To aid autonomous docking, visual marker-based tracking is used to detect and re-position the source robot relative to the target robot. The tracked features are then used in Image-Based Visual Servoing to bring the robots close enough for the docking procedure. The hybrid-tracking algorithm allows eliminating external pixelated noise in the image plane resulting in higher tracking accuracy along with faster frame update on a low-cost onboard computational device. This paper presents the overall mechanical design and the integration details of the modular robotic module with the docking mechanism. An overview of the autonomous tracking and docking algorithm is presented along-with a proof-of-concept real world demonstration of the autonomous docking and self-reconfigurability. Experimental results to validate the robustness of the proposed tracking method, as well as the reliability of the autonomous docking procedure, are also presented.

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