Browsing by Author "Rose, Chad G."

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    A Ball and Beam Module for a Haptic Paddle Education Platform
    (ASME, 2017) Rose, Chad G.; Bucki, Nathan; O’Malley, Marcia K.
    Single degree of freedom force-feedback mechatronic devices, often called haptic paddles, are used in university curriculum as well as massive open online courses (MOOCs). While devices differ based on the goals of a given course, broadly speaking they provide hands-on learning for students studying mechatronics and dynamics. We introduce the third iteration of the Haptic Paddle at Rice University, which has been modified to improve haptic performance and robustness. The modifications to the design increased device up time as well as the devices Z-width. The performance improvement enables the addition of experimental plants to the haptic paddle base, which can be directed at advanced dynamics and controls courses, or special topics in mechatronics and haptics. The first module, a Haptic Ball and Beam, adds an underactuated plant for teleoperation or more complex control structures, and a testbed for haptic motor learning experiments in undergraduate coursework.
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    Assessing Wrist Movement With Robotic Devices
    (IEEE, 2018) Rose, Chad G.; Pezent, Evan; Kann, Claudia K.; Deshpande, Ashish D.; O'Malley, Marcia K.
    Robotic devices have been proposed to meet the rising need for high intensity, long duration, and goal-oriented therapy required to regain motor function after neurological injury. Complementing this application, exoskeletons can augment traditional clinical assessments through precise, repeatable measurements of joint angles and movement quality. These measures assume that exoskeletons are making accurate joint measurements with a negligible effect on movement. For the coupled and coordinated joints of the wrist and hand, the validity of these two assumptions cannot be established by characterizing the device in isolation. To examine these assumptions, we conducted three user-in-the-loop experiments with able-bodied participants. First, we compared robotic measurements to an accepted modality to determine the validity of joint- and trajectory-level measurements. Then, we compared those movements to movements without the device to investigate the effects of device dynamic properties on wrist movement characteristics. Last, we investigated the effect of the device on coordination with a redundant, coordinated pointing task with the wrist and hand. For all experiments, smoothness characteristics were preserved in the robotic kinematic measurement and only marginally impacted by robot dynamics, validating the exoskeletons for use as assessment devices. Stemming from these results, we propose design guidelines for exoskeletal assessment devices.
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    Characterization of a hand-wrist exoskeleton, READAPT, via kinematic analysis of redundant pointing tasks
    (IEEE, 2015) Rose, Chad G.; Sergi, Fabrizio; Yun, Youngmok; Madden, Kaci; Deshpande, Ashish D.; O'Malley, Marcia K.; Mechatronics and Haptic Interfaces Laboratory
    Training coordinated hand and wrist movement is invaluable during post-neurological injury due to the anatomical, biomechanical, and functional couplings of these joints. This paper presents a novel rehabilitation device for coordinated hand and wrist movement. As a first step towards validating the new device as a measurement tool, the device transparency was assessed through kinematic analysis of a redundant finger pointing task requiring synergistic movement of the wrist and finger joints. The preliminary results of this new methodology showed that wearing the robot affects the kinematic coupling of the wrist and finger for unconstrained pointing tasks. However, further experiments specifying a subset of the solution manifold did not exhibit the same difference between robot and no robot trials. The experiments and analysis form a promising method for the characterization of multi-articular wearable robots as measurement tools in robotic rehabilitation.
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    Design and characterization of the OpenWrist: A robotic wrist exoskeleton for coordinated hand-wrist rehabilitation
    (IEEE, 2017) Pezent, Evan; Rose, Chad G.; Deshpande, Ashish D.; O’Malley, Marcia K.
    Robotic devices have been clinically verified for use in long duration and high intensity rehabilitation needed for motor recovery after neurological injury. Targeted and coordinated hand and wrist therapy, often overlooked in rehabilitation robotics, is required to regain the ability to perform activities of daily living. To this end, a new coupled hand-wrist exoskeleton has been designed. This paper details the design of the wrist module and several human-related considerations made to maximize its potential as a coordinated hand-wrist device. The serial wrist mechanism has been engineered to facilitate donning and doffing for impaired subjects and to insure compatibility with the hand module in virtual and assisted grasping tasks. Several other practical requirements have also been addressed, including device ergonomics, clinician-friendliness, and ambidextrous reconfigurability. The wrist module's capabilities as a rehabilitation device are quantified experimentally in terms of functional workspace and dynamic properties. Specifically, the device possesses favorable performance in terms of range of motion, torque output, friction, and closed-loop position bandwidth when compared with existing devices. The presented wrist module's performance and operational considerations support its use in a wide range of future clinical investigations.
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    Electromyographic Classification to Control the SPAR Glove
    (Elsevier, 2021) Britt, John E.; O'Malley, Marcia K.; Rose, Chad G.
    The SeptaPose Assistive and Rehabilitative (SPAR) Glove has been developed to assist individuals with upper extremity impairment arising from neuromuscular injury. The glove detects user intent via the MYO wearable electromyography (EMG) device. In this manuscript, pattern recognition tools infer the desired hand pose from EMG activity. The ability of the measurement and classification methods to distinguish between hand poses was evaluated with nine able-bodied participants and three participants with spinal cord injury (SCI) in an offline experiment. The strong performance of the proposed intent detection method is shown in the steady-state classification accuracy, presented as confusion matrices, as well as the average confidence for each classification. Building upon the strong performance in detecting pose, a pilot study with two participants with SCI presents the initial results of the real-time implementation of the system, which suggests directions for future work in improving the steady-state classification accuracy through expanded measurement and a refined taxonomy to enable intuitive control.
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    Estimating anatomical wrist joint motion with a robotic exoskeleton
    (IEEE, 2017) Rose, Chad G.; Kann, Claudia K.; Deshpande, Ashish D.; O’Malley, Marcia K.
    Robotic exoskeletons can provide the high intensity, long duration targeted therapeutic interventions required for regaining motor function lost as a result of neurological injury. Quantitative measurements by exoskeletons have been proposed as measures of rehabilitative outcomes. Exoskeletons, in contrast to end effector designs, have the potential to provide a direct mapping between human and robot joints. This mapping rests on the assumption that anatomical axes and robot axes are aligned well, and that movement within the exoskeleton is negligible. These assumptions hold well for simple one degree-of-freedom joints, but may not be valid for multi-articular joints with unique musculoskeletal properties such as the wrist. This paper presents an experiment comparing robot joint kinematic measurements from an exoskeleton to anatomical joint angles measured with a motion capture system. Joint-space position measurements and task-space smoothness metrics were compared between the two measurement modalities. The experimental results quantify the error between joint-level position measurements, and show that exoskeleton kinematic measurements preserve smoothness characteristics found in anatomical measures of wrist movements.
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    Hybrid Rigid-Soft Hand Exoskeleton to Assist Functional Dexterity
    (IEEE, 2019) Rose, Chad G.; O'Malley, Marcia K.
    A hybrid hand exoskeleton, leveraging rigid and soft elements, has been designed to serve as an assistive device to return the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) and improve quality of life for a broad population with hand impairment. This glove-like exoskeleton, the SeptaPose Assistive and Rehabilitative (SPAR) Glove, is underactuated, enabling seven hand poses which support most ADLs. The device resides on the spectrum between traditional rigid devices and the latest soft robotic designs. It includes novel ergonomic elements for power transmission and additional features to enable self-donning and doffing. Embedded sensors enable pose estimation and intent detection for intuitive control of the glove. In this paper, we summarize the overall design of the glove, and present details of the novel rigid palm bar and hyperextension prevention elements. We characterize the grasp force and range of motion (ROM) of the glove, and present initial feedback from an end user. The SPAR Glove meets or exceeds the functional requirements of ADLs for both ROM and grasp force. Additionally, the glove exceeds the grasp force capabilities of comparable devices, while simultaneously offering the highest number of poses. In addition to its role as an assistive device, the SPAR Glove exoskeleton has the potential to provide “hands-in” rehabilitation, centered on performing functional tasks. In the near term, the glove is a highly capable prototype for exploring hybrid assistive device design, intent detection, and user interface research.
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    Maintaining subject engagement during robotic rehabilitation with a minimal assist-as-needed (mAAN) controller
    (IEEE, 2017) Pehlivan, Ali Utku; Losey, Dylan P.; Rose, Chad G.; O’Malley, Marcia K.
    One challenge of robotic rehabilitation interventions is devising ways to encourage and maintain high levels of subject involvement over long duration therapy sessions. Assist-as-needed controllers have been proposed which modulate robot intervention in movements based on measurements of subject involvement. This paper presents a minimal assist-as-needed controller, which modulates allowable error bounds and robot intervention based on sensorless force measurement accomplished through a nonlinear disturbance observer. While similar algorithms have been validated using healthy subjects, this paper presents a validation of the proposed mAAN control algorithm's ability to encourage user involvement with an impaired individual. User involvement is inferred from muscle activation, measured via surface electromyography (EMG). Experimental validation shows increased EMG muscle activation when using the proposed mAAN algorithm compared to non-adaptive algorithms.
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    Reflection on System Dynamics Principles Improves Student Performance in Haptic Paddle Labs
    (IEEE, 2018) Rose, Chad G.; McDonald, Craig G.; Clark, Janelle P.; O’Malley, Marcia K.
    Contribution: Significant effort has been placed on the development of laboratory exercises for mechanical engineering curricula. Often, however, the exercises are not structured to encourage students to see the labs as a scientific process, instead of a checklist to be completed. Facilitating reflective observation and abstract conceptualization during the concrete experience (CE) of the lab improves student performance. Background: Extensive work has been put into the development of simple, low-cost educational tools to improve learning by supplementing curricula with hands-on experiences. Several devices, including haptic paddles, have been developed to combine dynamics and mechatronics content which culminate in rendering virtual environments. Despite demonstrated student interest in haptic devices and the foundational role of CE in learning, experimental comparisons of learning outcomes over a broad range of devices have had mixed results. Intended Outcomes: Device design can only address the experience portions of the learning cycle--effort put into encouraging and mediating a reflection phase will improve student performance. To test this hypothesis, the performance was compared of groups receiving the standard haptic paddle lab curriculum or a curriculum intended to facilitate reflection. Findings: Students receiving the reflective curriculum had statistically significant higher scores on lab report grades than those receiving the standard, non-reflective curriculum. The increased performance across multiple student GPA quartiles suggests that even modest curriculum changes designed to encourage reflection can improve student performance.