Developing an Assisting Device to Reduce the Vibration on the Hands of Elders

In our society, elderly people are one of the most vulnerable classes. At present, aging in the population is becoming a more and more serious issue. This might lead to several diseases related to aging such as Parkinson’s disease. From the viewpoint of assistive techniques, a device for disadvantaged groups should be created to lessen some of the inconveniences in their lives. Therefore, in this paper, a wearable mechanism to suppress axial vibration is proposed for people who suffer from unexpected tremors in their daily lives. Some investigations on Parkinson’s patients were carried out to infer their characteristics. A dynamic model of the gyroscopic system was then analyzed to formulate interactive torques in the working space. The control input was quantified concerning balancing the system state from the kinetic energy and using the feedback linearization technique. The framework of the proposed device was then described via mechanical analysis and prototype design. To validate the effectiveness of our approach, the system’s mathematical dynamics were simulated in a MATLAB environment. In a frequency range of 2–6 Hz, the system response adapted well to axial tremors. Our hardware in the proposed design was tested in different test scenarios such as in non-gyro- and gyro-based tremor suppression for real-world applications. Hand tremors were measured using wearable equipment with various levels of amplitude. From these results, it is clear that our method could have an effectiveness of up to 92.6%, which is considerably better than that in the non-gyro case. Hence, this innovative mechanism is expected to be employed in the fields of medical assistance, health care services, and robotics.

Design and Experimental Characterization of a Cable-Driven Elbow Assisting Device

This paper presents the design and an experimental characterization of CADEL, a cable-driven elbow assisting device. The device design is presented to be portable and user-oriented solution and its kinematic model is formulated for functionality analysis. A first prototype and its experimental setup are discussed with the peculiarities of the novel solutions. Two operation modes are investigated with and without load in experimental testing. The performance characterization and feasibility are discussed referring to both the numerical and experimental results.

Design and Performance of an Elbow Assisting Mechanism

An elbow assisting device is presented as based on a cable-driven parallel mechanism with design solutions that are improvements from a previous original design. The new mechanism, ideal for domestic use, both for therapies and exercises, is characterized by low-cost, portable, easy-to-use features that are evaluated through numerical simulations and experimental tests whose results are reported with discussions.

EMG Based Clinical Evaluation of IndoKnee

IndoKnee is an unpowered knee assisting device designed and patented by Newndra Innovations. In this paper, we report a clinical study to characterize the reduction in load on the major muscles of the knee from the use of this device. Thirty healthy subjects without any history of knee problems underwent this trial. The protocol consists of three sets of events which are a) without IndoKnee (WOD), b) with IndoKnee at a minimum level of support (WDmin) and c) with IndoKnee at a maximum level of support (WDmax). Each set consists of five sitting and five standing activities. Surface electromyography was recorded from six major knee flexion/extension muscles, which are Bicep Femoris (BF), Semitendinosus (ST), Semimembranosus (SM), Rectus Femoris (RF), Vastus Medialis (VM) and Vastus Lateralis (VL). Paired t-tests were performed on our comparison between WOD vs WDmin and WOD vs WDmax to establish a significant difference in the EMG peak amplitudes during sitting and standing activities. The average reduction in all the six muscles for sitting activity is about 15% for both level of support and the standing activity, it is about 15% at a minimum level of support and 20% at a maximum level of support. In our investigation, IndoKnee did effectively reduce the required muscular effort for the knee flexion/extension. Thus, IndoKnee may prove to be an effective device in reducing knee pain, supporting osteoarthritis patients and faster rehabilitation from knee injuries.