DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT ROBOTIC SYSTEM TO AID PHYSICAL THERAPY IN STROKE

This project (funded by Department of Health NEAT program) involves the development of a robotic system that provides intelligent, interactive, safe movement treatment to help recovery of arm weakness after stroke. This research project is a multidisciplinary collaboration between Leeds West PCT, LTHT, School of Mechanical Engineering (University of Leeds), School of Computer Science (University of Manchester), Grampian Universities NHS Trust, and School of Psychology (University of Aberdeen). Up to 85% of stroke victims (130,000 annually in England and Wales) have arm paresis, of whom 25% reporting difficulty using their arm after five years.  Recovery of arm movement partly relates to quantity of functionally relevant practice. Physiotherapists(PTs) carefully guide the arm allowing relearning of joint co-ordinations needed for functional arm movement. While beneficial, limited resource impacts on treatment quantity. A robotic device that helps PTs deliver more treatment would accelerate recovery of arm weakness. Such a device must (a) measure forces produced by PTs when guiding the arm through desired exercises, (b) actively control position of upper arm and forearm, (c) “sense” effort made by patient and alter amount of assistance, (d) be comfortable and safe, (e) be affordable and (f) be useable in patients with different amounts of weakness/spasm.   Existing devices have limitations: they (a) often act at a single point on the arm, (b) use commercial robots and electric motors which makes them heavy and expensive, (c) are not able to sense and react to the patient’s changing efforts as they reacquire motor skills. The proposed system will address these limitations by using two cooperating pneumatic robots, linked to form a single interactive intelligent device, mimicking guidance of the arm as undertaken by PTs. The project has three phases: (a) develop a system which captures and copies how PTs guide the patients arm through the exercise while the patient remains passive - passive assistance. (b) develop a system which senses effort made by the patient while attempting to repeat the exercise and assists adjusts the assistance accordingly, interactive assistance, and (c) pilot clinical trial of the intelligent interactive system.  The outcome of this project will be a co-ordinated pneumatic dual robot system with six axes of motion, which stroke patients with a wide range of arm impairments can safely and comfortably use in exercise therapy. The system will be portable, such that it can be flexibly deployed in physiotherapy departments.

Professor Bipin Bhakta BSc MBChB MD FRCP
Charterhouse Professor In Rehabilitation Medicine
Academic Unit of Musculoskeletal and Rehabilitation Medicine
Faculty of Medicine & Health
University of Leeds
36 Clarendon Road
Leeds LS2 9NZ
West Yorkshire