Communications of the ACM
Brain to Robot: 'move, Please'
Researchers in Switzerland are developing robots that can help some paralysis victims regain the use of their arms and hands.
Credit: Gerber Loesch Photography
Researchers in Switzerland are developing robots that can help paralyzed stroke victims regain the use of their arms and hands.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich professor Roger Gassert has designed robotic devices that train hand functions, but these robot-assisted therapy sessions are limited to infrequent appointments at a clinic.
Gassert and professor Jumpei Arata from Kyushu University in Japan built a lightweight, portable device that could be used at home and integrated into a patient's daily life. They say the hand exoskeleton wraps around a patient's fingers, leaving the palm free to grasp objects, while the system's motor is strapped to the patient's back.
The researchers' next task is to find a solution for stroke patients whose neural connections between the brain and the hand have been weakened or completely disrupted. To build a system that can detect in the brain a patient's intention to move a limb, Gassert is considering the feasibility of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy as an inexpensive imaging technique.
If the researchers succeed in establishing a connection between the brain and the hand exoskeleton, the device would be ideally suited for paralysis therapy.
From Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
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