ABSTRACT
As an integral part of patient care, nursing is required to constantly adapt to changes in the healthcare system, as well as the wider financial and societal environment. Among the key factors driving these changes is the aging of population. Combined with an existing shortage of nursing and caregiving professionals, accommodating for the patients and elderly needs within hospitals, elderly-care facilities and at a home setting, becomes a societal challenge. Amongst the technological solutions that have evolved in response to these developments, nursing and assistive robotics claim a pivotal role. The objective of the present study is to provide an overview of today's landscape in nursing and assistive robotics, highlighting the benefits associated with adopting such solutions in standard clinical practice. At the same time, to identify existing challenges and limitations that essentially outline the area's future directions. Beyond technological innovation, the manuscript also investigates the end-users' angle, being a crucial parameter in the success of robotics solutions operating within a healthcare environment. In this direction, the results of a survey designed to capture the nursing professionals' perspective toward more informed robotics design and development are presented.
ABSTRACT
This paper proposes a closed-loop optimal control model predicting changes between in-phase and anti-phase postural coordination during standing and related supra-postural activities. The model allows the evaluation of the influence of body dynamics and balance constraints onto the adoption of postural coordination. This model minimizes the instantaneous norm of the joint torques with a controller in the head space, in contrast with classical linear optimal models used in the postural literature and defined in joint space. The balance constraint is addressed with an adaptive ankle torque saturation. Numerical simulations showed that the model was able to predict changes between in-phase and anti-phase postural coordination modes and other non-linear transient dynamics phenomena.
Subject(s)
Models, Biological , Postural Balance/physiology , Ankle/physiology , Ankle Joint/physiology , Computer Simulation , Head/physiology , Humans , Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena , Nonlinear Dynamics , Phase Transition , TorqueABSTRACT
This paper presents a contribution for restoring standing in paraplegia while using functional electrical stimulation (FES). Movement generation induced by FES remains mostly open looped and stimulus intensities are tuned empirically. To design an efficient closed-loop control, a preliminary study has been carried out to investigate the relationship between body posture and voluntary upper body movements. A methodology is proposed to estimate body posture in the sagittal plane using force measurements exerted on supporting handles during standing. This is done by setting up constraints related to the geometric equations of a two-dimensional closed chain model and the hand-handle interactions. All measured quantities are subject to an uncertainty assumed unknown but bounded. The set membership estimation problem is solved via interval analysis. Guaranteed uncertainty bounds are computed for the estimated postures. In order to test the feasibility of our methodology, experiments were carried out with complete spinal cord injured patients.
