Development of a robotic upper limb assessment to configure a serious game

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Dehem, Stéphanie^{a; e; *} | Montedoro, Vincenza^{b; e} | Edwards, Martin Gareth^{b; e} | Detrembleur, Christine^{a; e} | Stoquart, Gaëtan^{a; c; e} | Renders, Anne^c | Heins, Sophie^{d; e} | Bruno, Dehez^{d; e} | Lejeune, Thierry^{a; c; e}

Affiliations: [a] Université catholique de Louvain, Secteur des Sciences de la Santé, Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique, Neuro Musculo Skeletal Lab (NMSK), Brussels, Belgium | [b] Université catholique de Louvain, Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium | [c] Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Service de médecine physique et réadaptation, Brussels, Belgium | [d] Université catholique de Louvain, Centre de Recherche en Energie et Mecatronique (CEREM), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium | [e] Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Bionics, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Stéphanie Dehem, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique, Neuro Musculo Skeletal Lab, Avenue Mounier 53, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: stephanie.dehem@uclouvain.be.

Abstract: BACKGROUNDROBiGAME project aims to implement serious games on robots to rehabilitate upper limb (UL) in stroke patients. The serious game characteristics (target position, level of assistance/resistance, level of force) are adapted based on the patient’s assessment before and continuously during the game (measuring UL working area, kinematics and muscle strength). OBJECTIVETo develop an UL robotic motor assessment protocol to configure the serious game. METHODS32 healthy subjects and 20 stroke patients participated in the study. Subjects were clinically assessed (UL length and isometric force) and using a robot. The robot assessment consisted of the patient’s UL working area (WA), the UL isometric and isokinetic force in three directions and the UL kinematics during a pointing task toward targets placed at different distances. RESULTSThe WA and the UL isometric force were moderately to highly correlated with clinical measures (respectively ρ= 0.52; p = 0.003, ρ= 0.68–0.73; p < 0.001). Ratios between the UL isokinetic force generated on three directions were established. The velocity and straightness indexes of all subjects increased when subjects had to reach to targets placed more distantly (r= 0.82–0.90; ρ= 0.86–0.90 respectively; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONSThis protocol can be integrated into a serious game in order to continuously configure the game characteristics to patient’s performance.

Keywords: Stroke, upper limb, robotics, motor assessment, serious game

DOI: 10.3233/NRE-182525

Journal: NeuroRehabilitation, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 263-274, 2019