Development of assistive interface device for patients with essential tremor

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24500672
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: National Institute of Technology, Kumamoto College
• Principal Investigator: SHIBASATO KOKI 熊本高等専門学校, 制御情報システム工学科, 教授 (60259968)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 福祉用具 / 支援機器 / 振戦 / QOL / アシスティブテクノロジー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Tremor is an involuntary, rhythmic, oscillatory movement produced by alternating or synchronous contractions of opposing muscle groups driven by uncoordinated impulses from the central or peripheral nervous systems. The tremor impedes the activities of daily living, such as writing a letter. This study aims to propose an assistive system in order to enhance QOL by suppressing the tremor when patients write characters or draw pictures. The proposed system is composed by two units: a display unit shows a trajectory adjusted by the algorithm decreasing the disturbed handwriting from involuntary movements, a tremor suppression mechanism unit prevents a pen vibrating. Regarding the display unit, an algorithm is proposed which reduces the influence of tremors by compensation of drawing point and a tremor filter. In addition the model which describes suppression mechanism during pen operation had enabled a disturbance control that aims to suppress only the involuntary movements.

Free Research Field

福祉人間工学