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2.
J Autism Dev Disord ; 2023 Aug 04.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37540405

The COVID-19 lockdown affected children, especially those with autism spectrum disorder, due to the disruption in rehabilitation and educational activities. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 315 preschool-aged children, 35 of which had autism, to investigate this impact. A questionnaire was administered to explore socio-demographic status, familiar/home environment, and COVID-19 exposure. The clinical features of autistic subjects were also examined. Seven variables were considered to describe the effect of pandemic: Remote learning, Behavior changes, Home activities, Sleep habits, Night awakenings, Physical activity, Information about the virus. The lockdown had a significant impact on Remote learning, Behavior changes, and Information about the virus in participants with autism. Moreover, we found a worsening in repetitive movements, echolalia, restricted interests, and aggressive behaviors.

3.
Front Neurorobot ; 17: 1172770, 2023.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37483539

Objective: The objective of this study is to verify the reliability and the concurrent and discriminant validity of the measurements of spasticity offered by the robotic device, quantifying the (1) test-retest reliability, (2) correlation with the clinical evaluation using the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), (3) inter-rater reliability between the two physiotherapists, and (4) ability to discriminate between healthy and stroke patients. Methods: A total of 20 stroke patients and 20 healthy volunteers participated in the study. Two physical therapists (PT1 and PT2) independently evaluated the hand spasticity of stroke subjects using the MAS. Spasticity was assessed, both in healthy and stroke patients, with the Amadeo device at three increasing velocities of passive movement for three consecutive repeated assessments, while raw data of force and position were collected through an external program. Data analysis: The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the weighted kappa were computed to estimate the reliability of the Amadeo device measurements, the inter-rater reliability of MAS, and the correlation between the MAS and Amadeo device measurements. The discriminant ability of the Amadeo device was assessed by comparing the stroke and healthy subjects' spasticity measurements with the percentage of agreements with 0 in MAS for healthy subjects. Results: The test-retest reliability of the Amadeo device was high with ICC at all three velocities (ICC = 0.908, 0.958, and 0.964, respectively) but lower if analyzed with weighted kappa correlation (0.584, 0.748, and 0.749, respectively) as mean values for each velocity. The correlation between Amadeo and the clinical scale for stroke patients with weighted kappa correlation was poor (0.280 ± 0.212 for PT1 and 0.290 ± 0.155 for PT2). The inter-rater reliability of the clinical MAS was high (ICC = 0.911). Conclusion: Both MAS and Amadeo spasticity scores showed good reliability. The Amadeo scores did not show a strong clinical correlation with the MAS in stroke patients. Hitherto, Amadeo evaluation shows trends that are consistent with the characteristics of spasticity, such as an increase in spasticity as the speed of muscle stretching increases. The ability of the device to discriminate between stroke patients and healthy controls is low. Future studies adopting an instrumental gold standard for spasticity may provide further insight into the validity of these measurements.

4.
Diagnostics (Basel) ; 13(6)2023 Mar 10.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36980361

The presence of involuntary, non-functional jaw muscle activity (NFJMA) has not yet been assessed in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), although the presence of bruxism and other forms of movement disorders involving facial muscles is probably more frequent than believed. In this work, we evaluated twenty-two prolonged or chronic DOC patients with a long-lasting polygraphic recording to verify NFJMA occurrence and assess its neurophysiological patterns in this group of patients. A total of 5 out of 22 patients showed the presence of significant NFJMA with electromyographic patterns similar to what can be observed in non-DOC patients with bruxism, thus suggesting a disinhibition of masticatory motor nuclei from the cortical control. On the other hand, in two DOC patients, electromyographic patterns advised for the presence of myorhythmia, thus suggesting a brainstem/diencephalic involvement. Functional, non-invasive tools such as long-lasting polygraphic recordings should be extended to a larger sample of patients, since they are increasingly important in revealing disorders potentially severe and impacting the quality of life of DOC patients.

5.
Front Neurol ; 14: 1093690, 2023.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36846115

Introduction: Since the uptake of digitizers, quantitative spiral drawing assessment allowed gaining insight into motor impairments related to Parkinson's disease. However, the reduced naturalness of the gesture and the poor user-friendliness of the data acquisition hamper the adoption of such technologies in the clinical practice. To overcome such limitations, we present a novel smart ink pen for spiral drawing assessment, intending to better characterize Parkinson's disease motor symptoms. The device, used on paper as a normal pen, is enriched with motion and force sensors. Methods: Forty-five indicators were computed from spirals acquired from 29 Parkinsonian patients and 29 age-matched controls. We investigated between-group differences and correlations with clinical scores. We applied machine learning classification models to test the indicators ability to discriminate between groups, with a focus on model interpretability. Results: Compared to control, patients' drawings were characterized by reduced fluency and lower but more variable applied force, while tremor occurrence was reflected in kinematic spectral peaks selectively concentrated in the 4-7 Hz band. The indicators revealed aspects of the disease not captured by simple trace inspection, nor by the clinical scales, which, indeed, correlate moderately. The classification achieved 94.38% accuracy, with indicators related to fluency and power distribution emerging as the most important. Conclusion: Indicators were able to significantly identify Parkinson's disease motor symptoms. Our findings support the introduction of the smart ink pen as a time-efficient tool to juxtapose the clinical assessment with quantitative information, without changing the way the classical examination is performed.

6.
Curr Psychol ; 42(10): 8615-8631, 2023.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34720549

We conducted a cross-sectional study to compare the impact of social distancing and lifestyle changes that occurred during Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown on children and adolescents with and without Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs). An online questionnaire was administered in order to investigate the effects of NDD condition, socio-demographic status, familiar/home environment and COVID-19 exposure on their lives during a two months period of social isolation. We used logistic regression, focusing on five endpoints (remote learning, lifestyle, stress/anxiety, sociality, scolding) to define the extent of these effects. Most questions were paired up to parents and children, to verify the occurrence of agreement. 8305 questionnaires were analyzed, 1362 of which completed by NDDs and 6943 by controls. Results showed that the presence of a NDD, compared to controls, had a significant impact on: Remote Learning (i.e. subjects with NDDs experienced more difficulties in attending online classes and studying), Sociality (i.e. subjects with NDDs missed their schoolmates less), Scolding (i.e. subjects with NDDs were scolded more often) and Anxiety (i.e. subjects with NDDs were perceived by their parents as more anxious). Substantial agreement between parents and children arose from questions concerning Remote learning, Lifestyle and Scolding. The current study actually points out that having a NDD gives account for a stronger influence on school performance and on behavioral and psychological aspects, during a two months lockdown. Such results may provide useful information to governments and school authorities on how carrying through supportive strategies for youth affected by NDDs. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02321-2.

7.
Int J Soc Robot ; 15(3): 517-545, 2023.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35194482

The integration of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) frameworks with Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) has proven useful for monitoring and assisting older adults in their own home. However, the difficulties associated with long-term deployments in real-world complex environments are still highly under-explored. In this work, we first present the MoveCare system, an unobtrusive platform that, through the integration of a SAR into an AAL framework, aimed to monitor, assist and provide social, cognitive, and physical stimulation in the own houses of elders living alone and at risk of falling into frailty. We then focus on the evaluation and analysis of a long-term pilot campaign of more than 300 weeks of usages. We evaluated the system's acceptability and feasibility through various questionnaires and empirically assessed the impact of the presence of an assistive robot by deploying the system with and without it. Our results provide strong empirical evidence that Socially Assistive Robots integrated with monitoring and stimulation platforms can be successfully used for long-term support to older adults. We describe how the robot's presence significantly incentivised the use of the system, but slightly lowered the system's overall acceptability. Finally, we emphasise that real-world long-term deployment of SARs introduces a significant technical, organisational, and logistical overhead that should not be neglected nor underestimated in the pursuit of long-term robust systems. We hope that the findings and lessons learned from our work can bring value towards future long-term real-world and widespread use of SARs.

8.
Sci Rep ; 12(1): 21624, 2022 12 14.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36517669

Handwriting learning delays should be addressed early to prevent their exacerbation and long-lasting consequences on whole children's lives. Ideally, proper training should start even before learning how to write. This work presents a novel method to disclose potential handwriting problems, from a pre-literacy stage, based on drawings instead of words production analysis. Two hundred forty-one kindergartners drew on a tablet, and we computed features known to be distinctive of poor handwriting from symbols drawings. We verified that abnormal features patterns reflected abnormal drawings, and found correspondence in experts' evaluation of the potential risk of developing a learning delay in the graphical sphere. A machine learning model was able to discriminate with 0.75 sensitivity and 0.76 specificity children at risk. Finally, we explained why children were considered at risk by the algorithms to inform teachers on the specific weaknesses that need training. Thanks to this system, early intervention to train specific learning delays will be finally possible.


Frailty , Literacy , Child , Humans , Handwriting , Cognition , Early Intervention, Educational
9.
Technol Soc ; 71: 102080, 2022 Nov.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35991080

Personal computers, tablets, and smartphones may support older adults' engagement when people are required to stay home and opportunities to engage in meaningful activities are reduced during the COVID-19 period. This study aims to screen older adults' technology-use characteristics across social, leisure, and education domains during the COVID-19 pandemic from a crosscultural viewpoint. The sample included 576 participants aged 60 and older from France (n = 62), Spain (n = 110), and Israel (n = 404). Participants completed the technology-use survey, which consists of questions about their facilities, technology usability, need for adaptations to support technology use, and changes in technology use since COVID-19. Significant differences were found between countries in facilities, χ2 (2) = 25.16, p < .001, and usability, χ2 (2) = 64.14, p < .001, across the three domains. Furthermore, 34% of technological usability was predicted by country and facilities, F (4, 568) = 72.39, p < .001. Participants noted a willingness to use technology if it was adapted for social (61%-73%), leisure (51%-71%), or educational (67%-76%) activities and that they devoted substantially more time to technology across domains (>58%) due to COVID-19. These findings highlight culture and facilities as factors that play an imperative role in supporting and enhancing the usability of technology among older adults.

10.
Neurol Sci ; 43(6): 3497-3501, 2022 Jun.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35275319

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures on young patients with tic disorders. Previous studies focused on clinician and parent ratings of tic severity, whereas the only international self-report data are available for adult populations. We present the first findings from a case-control study on children and adolescents with tics during lockdown in Italy. METHODS: We surveyed 49 patients aged 6-18 years and 245 matched controls with a newly developed questionnaire covering socio-demographic and clinical data, as well as lockdown-related changes to daily life activities. RESULTS: About half (53.2%) of the Italian school-age patients who took part in our survey experienced changes in tic severity during lockdown. Perceived increases in tic severity (29.8%) were reported more often than decreases (23.4%). Analogous trends were reported for perceived restlessness and, more significantly, irritability, whereas changes in pain symptoms were less common and were similar in both directions. The presence of tics was associated with increased difficulties with remote learning (p = 0.01), but decreased feelings of missing out on social interactions with schoolmates (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported data on the impact of COVID-19 lockdown in school-age patients with tic disorders indicate perceived changes in tic severity, as well as restlessness and irritability, in about half of the cases. These findings could guide both clinicians and teachers in the implementation of targeted adjustments in the delivery of care and educational strategies, respectively.


COVID-19 , Tic Disorders , Tics , Adolescent , Adult , Case-Control Studies , Child , Communicable Disease Control , Humans , Pandemics , Psychomotor Agitation , Self Report , Tic Disorders/epidemiology
11.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc ; 2021: 6475-6478, 2021 11.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34892593

Handwriting skills could be highly impaired in patients affected by Parkinson's disease (PD), and for this reason its analysis had always been considered relevant. In handwriting assessment, Archimedes spiral drawing is one of the most proposed tasks, due to its peculiar shape and ease of execution. In the last decades, digitizing tablets had been widely employed for the evaluation of the spiral performance, providing a cheap and non-invasive way to gather quantitative information, to be combined with the classical clinical examination. Despite this advantage, such approach cannot easily be adopted in an unsupervised scenario and lacks the natural feel of the traditional pen-and-paper approach. This work aims at overcoming these limitations by employing a smart ink pen, designed to write on paper and instrumented with inertial and force sensors, to automatically collect data related to spiral drawing execution of PD patients (n=30) and age-matched healthy controls (n=30). From the raw data, several time and frequency domains features were extracted and compared between the groups. The statistical analysis revealed some significant differences, showing less smooth acceleration and force profiles for PD patients. However, given the heterogeneous symptoms presented by the PD cohort, a detailed analysis of exemplifying PD patients was conducted, showing the ability of Archimedes spiral drawing to capture and quantify PD characteristic features.Clinical Relevance- Among the first clinical manifestations of the pathology, handwriting impairment appears in PD patients. It is often underestimated and not investigated properly. This easy-to-use tool could be very useful as a large-scale screening, but also for treatment efficacy evaluation and for the identification of PD subgroups.


Parkinson Disease , Acceleration , Handwriting , Humans , Ink , Physical Examination
12.
Gait Posture ; 86: 27-32, 2021 05.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33676301

BACKGROUND: Early detection of gait impairments in older adults allows the early uncovering of fall risk and/or cognitive deficits, resulting in timely interventions. Dual-task paradigms have been shown to be more sensitive than single-task conditions for the detection of subtle yet relevant gait impairments. RESEARCH QUESTION: Can a system - encompassing a pair of instrumented insoles and a customized mobile app - transparently and accurately study ecological walking activities in single- and dual-task conditions, with the aim of detecting early and subtle age-related alterations of gait? METHODS: The system was tested on 19 older adults during outdoor walking (two identical single-task trials and two motor-cognitive dual-task trials with the user engaged in a simple phone call and in a cognitive-demanding phone call). A single-task cognitive trial was included. Relative reliability of the gait parameters provided by the insoles during single-task walking was investigated (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient). The effect of dual tasking on both motor (Friedman test) and cognitive (Wilcoxon signed-rank test) domains was studied. To study usability, the system was tested on 5 older adults in real-life environment over 3 months. RESULTS: Most of the parameters showed excellent reliability. Independently from the cognitive demand, walking while talking resulted in increased gait cycle and step time, with a prolonged stance phase due to an augmented double-support. Variability of gait cycle and stance phase increased only during the most demanding dual-task. Dual tasking resulted in a reduced cognitive score. Usability feedback were excellent, with users reporting to understand the usefulness of the devised system and to feel at ease when using the system and the insoles. SIGNIFICANCE: This work paves the way toward fruitful applications of the devised system to achieve accurate and ecological monitoring of daily-life walking activities, with the final aim of detecting early and subtle alterations of gait.


Aging/physiology , Gait/physiology , Mobile Applications , Telemedicine/methods , Walking/statistics & numerical data , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Humans
13.
JMIR Serious Games ; 8(4): e20126, 2020 Oct 22.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33090110

BACKGROUND: Difficulties in handwriting, such as dysgraphia, impact several aspects of a child's everyday life. Current methodologies for the detection of such difficulties in children have the following three main weaknesses: (1) they are prone to subjective evaluation; (2) they can be administered only when handwriting is mastered, thus delaying the diagnosis and the possible adoption of countermeasures; and (3) they are not always easily accessible to the entire community. OBJECTIVE: This work aims at developing a solution able to: (1) quantitatively measure handwriting features whose alteration is typically seen in children with dysgraphia; (2) enable their study in a preliteracy population; and (3) leverage a standard consumer technology to increase the accessibility of both early screening and longitudinal monitoring of handwriting difficulties. METHODS: We designed and developed a novel tablet-based app Play Draw Write to assess potential markers of dysgraphia through the quantification of the following three key handwriting laws: isochrony, homothety, and speed-accuracy tradeoff. To extend such an approach to a preliteracy age, the app includes the study of the laws in terms of both word writing and symbol drawing. The app was tested among healthy children with mastered handwriting (third graders) and those at a preliterate age (kindergartners). RESULTS: App testing in 15 primary school children confirmed that the three laws hold on the tablet surface when both writing words and drawing symbols. We found significant speed modulation according to size (P<.001), no relevant changes to fraction time for 67 out of 70 comparisons, and significant regression between movement time and index of difficulty for 44 out of 45 comparisons (P<.05, R2>0.28, 12 degrees of freedom). Importantly, the three laws were verified on symbols among 19 kindergartners. Results from the speed-accuracy exercise showed a significant evolution with age of the global movement time (circle: P=.003, square: P<.001, word: P=.001), the goodness of fit of the regression between movement time and accuracy constraints (square: P<.001, circle: P=.02), and the index of performance (square: P<.001). Our findings show that homothety, isochrony, and speed-accuracy tradeoff principles are present in children even before handwriting acquisition; however, some handwriting-related skills are partially refined with age. CONCLUSIONS: The designed app represents a promising solution for the screening of handwriting difficulties, since it allows (1) anticipation of the detection of alteration of handwriting principles at a preliteracy age and (2) provision of broader access to the monitoring of handwriting principles. Such a solution potentially enables the selective strengthening of lacking abilities before they exacerbate and affect the child's whole life.

14.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc ; 2020: 5749-5752, 2020 07.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33019280

The analysis of the writing gesture has been successfully investigated in the diagnosis of age-related diseases, but the current technologies and methods still do not allow the ecological daily monitoring of handwriting, mostly because they rely on standardized writing protocols. In this study, we first designed and validated a novel electronic ink pen, equipped with motion and writing force sensing, for the ecological daily-life monitoring of handwriting in uncontrolled environments. We used the pen to acquire writing activities from healthy adults, from which we computed useful handwriting and tremor indicators. We evaluated the reliability of our measurements by computing the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and the minimal detectable changes (MDC). Moderate to excellent reliability were obtained for all the handwriting indicators computed in two different writing tasks. MDC values can be used as reference to discriminate a real change in the handwriting parameters from a measurement error in longitudinal studies. These results pave the way towards the use of the pen for daily life handwriting monitoring.


Handwriting , Ink , Reproducibility of Results
15.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc ; 2020: 5856-5859, 2020 07.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33019305

Failing to master handwriting, as in the case of Dysgraphia, has negative consequences on children's lives. In early stage of development, Dysgraphia diagnosis is delayed and not easily achievable. Thus, the aim of this work is to propose a valid tool to anticipate Dysgraphia screening at a preliteracy age. We developed a tablet application to analyze characteristics altered in dysgraphic handwriting, such as rhythmical laws (isochrony and homothety), or a collection of kinematic and dynamic parameters (smoothness, pressure, frequency contents). To be suitable for the pre-literacy stage, possible alterations are investigated in symbol drawings. The app is tested on 104 preschoolers, both with normal (n=76) and delayed graphical abilities (n=28), reporting excellent acceptance. Some isochrony alterations were reported only for children with delayed graphical abilities. Moreover, kinematic and dynamic parameters are effective in discriminating between risk and norisk conditions. Indeed, the logistic classification adopted resulted in a 0.819 area under the precision-recall curve. These findings pave the way toward an early screening of future handwriting alteration, starting from a pre-literacy age.


Agraphia , Handwriting , Biomechanical Phenomena , Child , Humans
16.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth ; 8(9): e17963, 2020 09 21.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32955442

BACKGROUND: Dementia is a major and growing health problem, and early diagnosis is key to its management. OBJECTIVE: With the ultimate goal of providing a monitoring tool that could be used to support the screening for cognitive decline, this study aims to develop a supervised, digitized version of 2 neuropsychological tests: Trail Making Test and Bells Test. The system consists of a web app that implements a tablet-based version of the tests and consists of an innovative vocal assistant that acts as the virtual supervisor for the execution of the test. A replay functionality is added to allow inspection of the user's performance after test completion. METHODS: To deploy the system in a nonsupervised environment, extensive functional testing of the platform was conducted, together with a validation of the tablet-based tests. Such validation had the two-fold aim of evaluating system usability and acceptance and investigating the concurrent validity of computerized assessment compared with the corresponding paper-and-pencil counterparts. RESULTS: The results obtained from 83 older adults showed high system acceptance, despite the patients' low familiarity with technology. The system software was successfully validated. A concurrent validation of the system reported good ability of the digitized tests to retain the same predictive power of the corresponding paper-based tests. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, the positive results pave the way for the deployment of the system to a nonsupervised environment, thus representing a potential efficacious and ecological solution to support clinicians in the identification of early signs of cognitive decline.


Cognitive Dysfunction , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Cognitive Dysfunction/diagnosis , Early Diagnosis , Female , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Software , Technology
17.
Health Informatics J ; 26(3): 1952-1968, 2020 09.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31903859

Telemonitoring is one of the most expedient answers to the strong need for preventive care imposed by the rapidly aging society. We propose an innovative solution to the detection of early signs of frailty by presenting a serious game controlled by a smart sensorized soft plastic ball, designed to achieve continuous home-based monitoring of muscle weakness in older adults. Design, development, and testing of the smart ball and of the game interface devised to guide the monitoring procedure are presented. Reliability and concurrent validity of the system in measuring maximal grip strength against the clinical standard Jamar® were evaluated. Serious game usability and acceptance were investigated on 26 elderlies. Smart ball and Jamar measurements were well correlated (0.76 and 0.80 for dominant and non-dominant hands) and test-retest reliability of pressure measurements was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.94). The serious game was well accepted by the 96.1 percent of participants, who provided a strongly positive usability score (87.7/100). The smart ball-driven serious game demonstrated excellent reliability and good validity in measuring grip strength. The proposed smart ball-driven serious game can be used for home self-monitoring of grip strength in elderlies.


Aging , Hand Strength , Aged , Humans , Muscle Strength Dynamometer , Reproducibility of Results
18.
J Neuroeng Rehabil ; 16(1): 150, 2019 11 27.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31775780

BACKGROUND: This study is aimed at better understanding the role of a wearable and silent ElectroMyoGraphy-based biofeedback on motor learning in children and adolescents with primary and secondary dystonia. METHODS: A crossover study with a wash-out period of at least 1 week was designed; the device provides the patient with a vibration proportional to the activation of an impaired target muscle. The protocol consisted of two 5-day blocks during which subjects were trained and tested on a figure-8 writing task: their performances (at different levels of difficulty) were evaluated in terms of both kinematics and muscular activations on day 1 and day 5, while the other 3 days were purely used as training sessions. The training was performed with and without using the biofeedback device: the week of use was randomized. Data were collected on 14 subjects with primary and secondary (acquired) dystonia (age: 6-19 years). RESULTS: Results comparing kinematic-based and EMG-based outcome measures pre- and post-training showed learning due to practice for both subjects with primary and secondary dystonia. On top of said learning, an improvement in terms of inter-joint coordination and muscular pattern functionality was recorded only for secondary dystonia subjects, when trained with the aid of the EMG-based biofeedback device. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the hypothesis that children and adolescents with primary dystonia in which there is intact sensory processing do not benefit from feedback augmentation, whereas children with secondary dystonia, in which sensory deficits are often present, exhibit a higher learning capacity when augmented movement-related sensory information is provided. This study represents a fundamental investigation to address the scarcity of noninvasive therapeutic interventions for young subjects with dystonia.


Biofeedback, Psychology/methods , Dystonia/rehabilitation , Electromyography/instrumentation , Learning/physiology , Motor Activity/physiology , Adolescent , Biomechanical Phenomena , Child , Cross-Over Studies , Electromyography/methods , Female , Humans , Male , Pilot Projects , Vibration , Young Adult
19.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc ; 2019: 5108-5112, 2019 Jul.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31947008

In the context of sensor-based human-robot interaction, a particularly promising solution is represented by myoelectric control schemes based on synergy-derived signals. We developed and tested on healthy subjects a synergy-based control to achieve simultaneous, continuous actuation of three degrees of freedom of a humanoid robot, while performing functional reach-to-grasp movements. The control scheme exploits subject-specific muscle synergies extracted from eleven upper limb muscles through an easy semi-supervised calibration phase, and computes online activation coefficients to actuate the robot joints. The humanoid robot was able to well reproduce the subjects' motion, which consisted in free multi-degree-of-freedom reach-to-grasp movements at self-paced speeds. Furthermore, the synergy-based online control significantly outperformed a traditional muscle-pair approach (that uses a pair of antagonist muscles for each joint), in terms of decreased error, increased correlation, and peak correlation between the subjects' and the robot's joint angles. The delay introduced by the two algorithms was comparable. This work is a proof-of-concept for an intuitive and robust myocontrol interface, without the need for any training and practice. It has several potential applications, especially for functional assistive engaging devices in children with social and motor impairments.


Movement , Robotics , Upper Extremity , Adult , Algorithms , Electromyography , Female , Humans , Joints
20.
Ann Biomed Eng ; 45(8): 1949-1962, 2017 08.
Article En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28560552

Childhood dystonia is a movement disorder characterized by muscle overflow and variability. This is the first study that investigates upper limb muscle synergies in childhood dystonia with the twofold aim of deepening the understanding of neuromotor dysfunctions and paving the way to possible synergy-based myocontrol interfaces suitable for this neurological population. Nonnegative matrix factorization was applied to the activity of upper-limb muscles recorded during the execution of writing tasks in children with dystonia and age-matched controls. Despite children with dystonia presented compromised kinematics of the writing outcome, a strikingly similarity emerged in the number and structure of the synergy vectors extracted from children in the two groups. The analysis also revealed that the timing of activation of the synergy coefficients did not significantly differ, while the amplitude of the peaks presented a slight reduction. These results suggest that the synergy analysis has the ability of capturing the uncorrupted part of the electromyographic signal in dystonia. Such an ability supports a possible future use of muscle synergies in the design of myocontrol interfaces for children with dystonia.


Dystonia/physiopathology , Models, Neurological , Movement Disorders/physiopathology , Movement , Muscle Contraction , Muscle, Skeletal/physiopathology , Writing , Adolescent , Child , Computer Simulation , Dystonia/complications , Female , Humans , Male , Movement Disorders/etiology , Psychomotor Performance , Upper Extremity/physiopathology , Young Adult
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