- Title: POLAND-REHABILITATION ROBOT Rehab robot helps restore damaged muscles and nerves
- Date: 27th February 2015
- Summary: VARIOUS PATIENT PERFORMING EXERCISE
- Embargoed: 14th March 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Poland
- Country: Poland
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVADYJ5XPAAN3A5KUU4Y92J0WS9G
- Story Text: Orthopaedic and neurological patients can now exercise their damaged muscles thanks to "Luna", a Polish rehabilitation robot that reads signals from the brain to deteriorated muscles.
The Polish engineers from developer Egzotech say they have designed the robot to perform exercises driven by electromyography (EMG), which has previously been used to diagnose muscle and nerve health.
Michal Mikulski, designer of "Luna" and head of Egzotech, says using EMG means patients with muscle atrophy can exercise even without using the strength of badly deteriorated muscles.
"If we see weak muscles, it is still not bad. However we reach a certain stage at a certain moment of disease development, when the muscle tension is not even visible. Then we are not able to deal with it ourselves, but these signals can still be seen on our machines, "Luna" is still able to detect them," Mikulski told Reuters.
He says these signals are amplified by the robot using a 6-channel bioelectric amplifier, causing the patient's muscle to move.
"It detects these signals and causes the movement of the limb, as if it were performed naturally," he added.
"Luna" can detect as little as 0.2 nanometers of movement in limbs, its designers say. Signals from nerves are increased up to 5000 times, and shown on diagrams on the device's screen and archived to estimate rehabilitation progress.
The robot can also change the resistance during training as a result of using force-feedback technology in the prototype, which simulates physical attributes such as weight.
Mikulski explained that when the human brain receives feedback that a signal to move muscles has worked, this helps re-establish connections with even severely deteriorated muscles and nerves.
"In this case the brain interprets that it gave a signal to the muscle and it worked because movement occurred, so I feel these impulses and my position in space, I see something happened, so I should give more of these signals. And in this way we are trying to reconstruct the parts of the connections which people are still able to make and thus help these patients," he said.
Luna's engineers hope to make muscular rehabilitation fun for younger patients. The robot's applications encourage patients to perform exercises without realising they are doing so. Mikulski emphasised that for children who have been through traumatic accidents, making rehabilitation enjoyable rather than a tedious extension of their trauma.
"On the device screen we are able to show games during which a child is still exercising, still engaging muscles, still increasing strength and co-ordination, but is in fact controlling an object in the game. Sometimes it is a spacecraft, sometimes shooting balls, sometimes flying a dragon. In any case, a child wants to win the game, wants to compete, but in fact they are exercising," said Mikulski.
Luna's developers hope to be able to treat up to four patients at once after it reaches the market.
The rehabilitation prototype is currently completing its final tests before being officially launched later this year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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