Ky. Tong et Aft. Mak, Development of computer-based environment for simulating the voluntary upper-limb movements of persons with disability, MED BIO E C, 39(4), 2001, pp. 414-421
Upper-limb orthotic systems have been designed for restoring the upper-limb
functions of individuals with disabilities resulting from spinal cord inju
ry (SCI), stroke and muscular dystrophy. These systems employ either functi
onal electrical stimulation or external power. It is proposed that, instead
of time-consuming and complicated monitoring using sensors and motion anal
ysis, a software simulator with both angular displacement and acceleration
parameters can facilitate the design of a control strategy for an orthosis.
Reaching movements of three cervical SCI subjects are used to verify the s
imulator. A motion analysis system is used to measure the range of motion a
nd joint angles during hand reaching. Results indicate that quaternion and
spline curve techniques are suitable for interpolation of the hand reaching
movements. The information needed for good simulation only compress the sh
oulder and elbow joint angles in a few key postures. Stimulated acceleratio
n signals on the upper-arm segment have a high correlation coefficient (> 0
.9) and a small root mean squared error (< 0.11 g) with a real bi-axial acc
elerometer.