康复机器人项目简介

Rehabilitation and Assistive Robots for

Healthcare of Disabled and Elderly Persons

Dr. Low Kin Huat

Professor

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Singapore 639798

Research Interests:

Rehabilitation Robots, Assistive Robots, Underwater Robots, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

September 2014

Background

Spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke are the leading cause of permanent disability around the world. In United States, there are approximately 795,000 new stroke cases [1], and an estimated 12,000 new spinal cord injury cases [2] occurring each year. While in China, the number of stroke patients is high up to 70 million [3]. Loss of walking ability is a debilitating outcome in post-stroke and spinal cord injury, with more than 50% of the post-stroke patients demonstrating persistent walking deficits, and more than 90% of the SCI patients lose their sensory and motor control of the lower limbs. In addition, the risk of stroke increases exponentially with aging which is an important social problem in China. As reported [4], by the year of 2040, the number of people with the age of above 60 will reach 400 million which is 26% of the whole population.

On the other hand, the modern rehabilitation method or recovery model is recently inspired by the principle of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment [5-7]. Therefore, it is possible that with appropriate rehabilitation methods and processes, neuronal circuits of stroke patients that have been affected by brain lesion can potentially be retrained, resulting in improving motor control.

However, for the conventional therapist assisted gait rehabilitation approach, the labor costs are high as up to three therapists can be required to assist each patient. Thus the popularity of this approach has dwindled due to initial high cost outlay for the equipment, following by high labor not to mention staff training in the use of the system. Rehabilitation robot is gaining its popularity in gait rehabilitation since it can help tackle these issues and enable the patients to regain their independence.

For patients with severe conditions, even after rehabilitation, these patients are still unable to walk well, or walk safely. As a result, ambulation is the major concern for them and affects their independence of daily life. Using wheelchairs can aid mobility and some patients are likely to opt for the use of wheelchair rather than using their ambulation skills after rehabilitation [8]. However, using the wheelchair will cause some constraints for the patients [9]. For example,