’s Brain ding Robot
nal Cord Injury Patients has partnered with Dr. Bob Grossman at TMHRI to begin testing. Initial testing has started at UH, and clinical trials could begin at Methodist Hospital sometime this year. Marcie O’Malley at Rice University and Dr. Gerard Francisco at TIRR Memorial Hermann also are collaborating with Contreras-Vidal to develop a BMI system for upper-limb rehabilitation for stroke patients. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), within the framework of the President’s National Robotics Initiative (NRI), has funded the multi-disciplinary team. UH is developing the electroencephalogrambased (EEG) neural interface and Rice the exoskeleton. The combined device will be validated by UTHealth physicians at TIRR Memorial Hermann, with as many as 40 volunteer patients in the final two years of the four-year, $1.17 million R01 grant. The NIH award, supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is one of a select few projects funded under NRI, a collaborative partnership by the NIH, National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Agriculture that seeks to encourage the development of the next generation of robots that will work closely with humans. When set into motion, the intelligent exoskeleton will use thoughts to trigger repetitive motions and retrain the brain’s motor networks. “The capability to harness a user’s intent through the EEG neural interface to control robots makes it possible to fully engage the patient during rehabilitation,” ContrerasVidal said.
exoskeleton is generally guided by a joystick controlled by the user or the experimenter, to set it in motion, stand, step forward or turn. Once the “translator” between movement and brain activity is trained, the user can use his/her thoughts to control the device just by thinking about it. In the case of NeuroRex, the goal is for the patient’s brainwaves to operate the device. The ultimate goal is for the user to wear a headset similar to Bluetooth wireless technology to operate the exoskeleton. “We have no shortage of dreams,” said Contreras-Vidal. “Just a few years ago, the bottleneck was technology. That is no longer the case.” Contreras-Vidal said that most researchers have long believed that decoding movement intentions in the brain would require invasive technologies, such as electrodes implanted in the skull. But his earlier research demonstrated that movement intentions related to the legs – such as walking, turning and sitting – can be decoded with high accuracy through the scalp EEG, which records the brain’s electrical activity through the skullcap. In addition to the physical benefits of a brain-powered exoskeleton, there are other benefits to this technology, such as the simple boost in self-esteem in standing upright for a spinal cord injury patient long resigned to a wheelchair, and the benefits of regaining mobility that could result in improved cardiovascular and bladder functions. H
During the training or calibration phase, the Article originally appeared in UH News, Spring 2013. Designer Eric Dowding
Research is under way to perfect a device that operates advanced prosthetics that allow a person to “walk.”
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