Intelligent Robotic Rehabilitation Systems
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
MEng course has covered several aspects of research and statistics in several modules and in addition to this my final year project has been within the Robotic Research group at the University of Birmingham and has necessitated learning to work with new research focused software's, support grant applications with the relevant research papers and working with statistical means of analysis.
The project that I am applying to research for is the Birmingham Gait Robotic Rehabilitation System
currently in development by members of the Robotic Research Group under Dr.Saadat. As part of
my final year project at The University of Birmingham I worked alongside members of this group in
several different roles.
I first helped contribute to a grant application for which the design of the robotic system had been
changed by a current PhD student and I designed the supporting structure and environment in which
the system would be used. I approached this challenge from a Human-Centred Design (HCD) as
outlined in International Standards, ISO 9241-210, 2011, a point of view which involved ensuring the
design utilised skills and expertise from a wide range of areas. This involved research into existing
models, the current field of rehabilitation technology and patient psychology to ensure that the
design was fit for purpose.
After this grant application was put in I worked on gait analysis of an experiment that had been
performed for the research group a few years ago. This data had been utilised in several ways in the
past but the goal of the current analysis was to compare the control subjects and the Stroke
Survivors via statistical means with the goal of using the results to validate or suggest improvements
to the current design of the BGRRS.
I wish to take this project further by bringing in a different set of skills to the group as well as
augmenting existing ones. This would mean that we would be able to build the device based off our
own research which would guide the project to ensure that the end design was something that
would be well suited to both the patients and physiotherapists and would also be achievable from a
financial and manufacturing point of view.
During this project, I would expect that we would need to fill gaps in the literature with our own
novel work to further our knowledge and expertise in the subject to ensure that the project is a
success. This would range from working on validating the design of robot against competitors to
show the improvements made, e.g showing correlation in increased degrees of freedom for the
ankle and an increase in rehabilitation in the user, to designing new control schemes and mechanical
features to realise these goals.
The project that I am applying to research for is the Birmingham Gait Robotic Rehabilitation System
currently in development by members of the Robotic Research Group under Dr.Saadat. As part of
my final year project at The University of Birmingham I worked alongside members of this group in
several different roles.
I first helped contribute to a grant application for which the design of the robotic system had been
changed by a current PhD student and I designed the supporting structure and environment in which
the system would be used. I approached this challenge from a Human-Centred Design (HCD) as
outlined in International Standards, ISO 9241-210, 2011, a point of view which involved ensuring the
design utilised skills and expertise from a wide range of areas. This involved research into existing
models, the current field of rehabilitation technology and patient psychology to ensure that the
design was fit for purpose.
After this grant application was put in I worked on gait analysis of an experiment that had been
performed for the research group a few years ago. This data had been utilised in several ways in the
past but the goal of the current analysis was to compare the control subjects and the Stroke
Survivors via statistical means with the goal of using the results to validate or suggest improvements
to the current design of the BGRRS.
I wish to take this project further by bringing in a different set of skills to the group as well as
augmenting existing ones. This would mean that we would be able to build the device based off our
own research which would guide the project to ensure that the end design was something that
would be well suited to both the patients and physiotherapists and would also be achievable from a
financial and manufacturing point of view.
During this project, I would expect that we would need to fill gaps in the literature with our own
novel work to further our knowledge and expertise in the subject to ensure that the project is a
success. This would range from working on validating the design of robot against competitors to
show the improvements made, e.g showing correlation in increased degrees of freedom for the
ankle and an increase in rehabilitation in the user, to designing new control schemes and mechanical
features to realise these goals.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Thomas Scone (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/N509590/1 | 01/10/2016 | 30/09/2021 | |||
| 1974658 | Studentship | EP/N509590/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/01/2021 | Thomas Scone |
| Description | The initial paper that was produced was investigating targeting effects within clinical gait analysis. Targeting effects effect how somebody walks when presented with a clearly defined target in their path, in the case of gait analysis this often means a force plate. This work has received a number of reads and has been referenced in another paper as evidence of targeting effects on the ground reaction forces. This forms an initial section of this project that evaluates how gait analysis is used. A second paper is currently under peer review which then uses gait analysis to look further into aspects of hemiparetic gait that can help inform rehabilitation systems. |
| Exploitation Route | This is forming part of a larger conversation that may have potential benefits in ensuring that targeting effects are accounted for in gait analysis. This would allow for a more accurate analysis that represents the participant's normal gait and help eliminate variations induced due to the data gathering set-up. |
| Sectors | Healthcare |
| URL | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2055668318766710 |