Hybrid position and orientation tracking for a passive rehabilitation table-top robot.

This paper presents a real time hybrid 2D position and orientation tracking system developed for an upper limb rehabilitation robot. Designed to work on a table-top, the robot is to enable home-based upper-limb rehabilitative exercise for stroke patients. Estimates of the robot's position are computed by fusing data from two tracking systems, each utilizing a different sensor type: laser optical sensors and a webcam. Two laser optical sensors are mounted on the underside of the robot and track the relative motion of the robot with respect to the surface on which it is placed. The webcam is positioned directly above the workspace, mounted on a fixed stand, and tracks the robot's position with respect to a fixed coordinate system. The optical sensors sample the position data at a higher frequency than the webcam, and a position and orientation fusion scheme is proposed to fuse the data from the two tracking systems. The proposed fusion scheme is validated through an experimental set-up whereby the rehabilitation robot is moved by a humanoid robotic arm replicating previously recorded movements of a stroke patient. The results prove that the presented hybrid position tracking system can track the position and orientation with greater accuracy than the webcam or optical sensors alone. The results also confirm that the developed system is capable of tracking recovery trends during rehabilitation therapy.

Can Multiple Mini Interviews work in an Irish setting? A feasibility study.

Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) is a new selection tool for medical school applicants. Developed at McMaster University in 2004 it comprises a series of interview stations designed to measure performance across a range of competencies including communication skills, team work, and ethical reasoning. In September 2012, 109 First Year Medical students underwent the MMI. It consisted of 10 stations. The median total score, out of 150, was 100 (min 63, max 129). Cronbach Alphas for the 10 individual stations range from 0.74 to 0.80. Overall Cronbach Alpha of MMI items was 0.78. Staff and student feedback was positive. The outline cost per student was estimated at Euro 145. This study demonstrates that it is feasible to hold a MMI with acceptable levels of reliability and stakeholder approval in an Irish setting. Further work is ongoing to establish the concurrent and predictive validity of MMI in this cohort of medica students.

Development of the iPAM MkII system and description of a randomized control trial with acute stroke patients.

iPAM (intelligent Pneumatic Arm Movement) is a dual robot system for providing assistive upper-limb exercise to people with arm weakness as a result of stroke. This paper highlights refinements made to the system in the development of iPAM MkII. The rationale of an on-going random control trial using the iPAM MkII is also presented.