Application of robotic wear curara for intractable neurodegenerative diseases

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H03031
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Medical systems
• Research Institution: Shinshu University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Kunihiro 信州大学, 医学部, 特任教授 (90242693)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 中村 昭則 信州大学, 医学部, 特任教授 (10303471) ; 橋本 稔 信州大学, 学術研究院繊維学系, 特任教授 (60156297)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 歩行アシスト / 着脱型ロボット / 脳卒中 / 脊髄小脳変性症 / 同調制御法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have been developing the robotic wear curara as a rehabilitation robot. Curara detects slight movement in the wearer’s hip and knee joints via a torque sensor (instead of a bioelectrical signal sensor) and achieves its harmonious assist with the wearer by a synchronization-based control. To verify the effect of curara assist, we conducted gait experiments on 15 hemiplegic patients with stroke and 12 patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD). We tried several assist conditions with differences in gait cycle, amplitude of hip and knee joints, and synchronization gain in both diseases. In results, we found conditions which significantly improved the walking velocity, step length, and cadence and reduced step asymmetry in stroke patients. Moreover, we found conditions which increased the harmonic ratios in the anteroposterior, mediolateral, and vertical directions in SCD patients. We think that curara has the potential to improve gait performance in patients with stroke and SCD.

Free Research Field

神経遺伝学