Innovative biorobotic system for the diagnosis of neuro-motor conditions: methodology and results

This paper concerns a biorobotic system based on fuzzy logic to diagnose and monitor the neuro-psycho-physical conditions of an individual . The system, called Daphne, is characterized by a small dimension design; userfriendly hardware and software mean that even non-experts will be able to use this device. Furthermore, thanks to its design concept, the system can be used not only for medical applications, but also in the fields of daily health-care and sport. Daphne is a portable system, involving multiple parameters such as reaction time, speed, strength and tremor which are processed by means of fuzzy logic; additionally, the device is characterized by a voice detection system. INTRODUCTION In order to measure quantitively the neuro-psychmotor conditions of an individual with a view to subsequently detecting his/her state of helath, it is necessary to obtain a set of paraameters such as rection time, speed, strength and tremor. By processing these parameters through the use of fuzzy logic it is possibile to monitor an individual's state of health,.i.e. whether he/she is healthy or affected by a particular pathology such as Parkinson's disease, dementia, etc. The set of parameters obtained is useful not only to diagnose neuro-motor pathologies (e.g. Parkinson Desease), but also to assess general everyday health or to monitor sports performance; moreover, continuous use of the device by an individual for health-montoring purposes, not only allows for detection of the onset of a particular pathology but also provides greater awareness in terms of how life style or certain habits tend to have repercussions on psyco-physical well-being. Since an individual's state of health should be continually monitored, it is essential that he or she can manage the test autonomously without his/her emotional state being influenced: autonomous testing is important, as the individual is likely to be more relaxed thus obviating emotional problems. The Daphne system has been designed with reference to the biomechanical characteristics of the human finger . THE DAPHNE SYSTEM Daphne is a biorobotic device that, through multi-parametric detection, allows for the diagnosis and monitoring of an individual's neuro psycho-physical condition regardless of, whether he/she is healthy or affected by specific nervous system pathologies such as Parkinson's disease, dementia, schizophrenia, etc.