Sensory system design for perturbation-based balance rehabilitation

• Main Author: Lee, Jessica He Bing
• Other Authors: Hoon Kay Hiang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/60320
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This project aims to design and implement a sensory system to improve on the current rehabilitation machine which is capable of detecting the ground reaction force when it is worn by the patient. The ground reaction force would then be used to determine the type of gait phase the patient is in, and hence allowing the therapist to induce the perturbations on the rehabilitation machine at different stages. This is so, that the simulated perturbations can be executed at random pattern in order to make unpredictable for the patient. First phase of the report which consists of chapters one and two, involved the possible circumstances for a person to balance in a moving train, in order to simulate an effect which is at least near resemblance of the slipping effect in reality. The required information to replicate the scenario was also provided. Good postural balance is a necessity for mobility. Factors affecting fall, which can be divided into intrinsic and extrinsic, are also further discussed in the chapters. Second phase of the report which consists of chapters three and four, involved the method of constructing the shoes and the programming details. Shoes with fairly flat soles were deliberately chosen so that the sensors used can be detected easily. Flexiforce sensors were specifically selected due to the advantage it yields – ability to cut into desired length. Centre of pressure, CoP was used to determine the type of gait phase the patient is in, in order to activate the perturbation. LabVIEW is used for the programming section and safety features were also implemented to prevent accidents. Lastly, the final phase of the report ends with the experimental results and analysis, followed by conclusion and some limitations that are faced during the experiments with some possible future works which are not done in this project due to time limitation.