SYNTHETICALLY POWERED ORTHOTIC SYSTEMS

Development of Externally Powered Upper Extremity Orthotic Systems.

In recent years an increasing number of patients are surviving with extensive paralysis which includes the loss of hand and arm movements in both upper extremities. This disability occurs in patients with cord lesions from the fourth to the sixth cervical vertebrae who have survived with tetraplegia, as well as in patients with severe paralysis from poliomyelitis, with central nervous system de...

Future Developments in Externally Powered Orthotic and Prosthetic Devices.

Patient-Adaptive Prosthetic and Orthotic Leg Systems

Two computer-controlled devices for leg rehabilitation are presented: 1) an external knee prosthesis for trans-femoral amputees; and 2) a force-controllable ankle-foot orthosis to assist individuals suffering from drop-foot, a gait pathology resulting from muscle weakness in ankle dorsiflexors. Here muscle-like actuators and biologically-inspired control schemes are employed to enhance patient ...

Crowd-Powered Intelligent Systems

Human computation provides a new resource for creating intelligent systems that are able to go beyond the capabilities of fully-automated solutions. Currently, machines struggle in many real-world settings because problems can be almost entirely unconstrained and can vary greatly between instances. Solving problems such as natural language understanding require artificial intelligence to first ...

Intra-oral Telemetry Control for Orthotic Power Systems

This paper describes the developmental work being done at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital on intra-oral telemetry control systems. The design of a tongue-actuated intra-oral telemetry control system to control the “Rancho Electric Arm” (a seven-degree-of-freedom electrically-powered arm brace) is described in detail. The system consists of 15 specially designed solid state strain gauge pressure tran...