ORLANDO, Fla. (June 15, 2009) - A high-tech robotic arm may be the helping hand that patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) need to make their lives more independent. The medical director and rehabilitation therapists at Orlando Health Rehabilitation Institute are evaluating the technology used to operate the robotic arm in an effort to help design controls that are best suited for patients as they reach forward for a greater quality of life. The interface technology used for the robotic arm was developed by the Assistive Robotics Laboratory team at the University of Central Florida’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and NanoScience Technology Center. The robotic arm used in the study, known as the Manus ARM (Assistive Robotic Manipulator), is made by Exact Dynamics based in The Netherlands.
"The assisted robotic arm is designed to help people with certain spinal cord injuries who have limited arm function as they complete everyday living tasks like feeding themselves, pouring a drink, opening a cabinet, or picking up something they have dropped," said David Portée, MD, medical director of the Rehabilitation Institute and principal investigator for the study. "The impact of functional technology in a person's life can be far reaching beyond improved ability to perform tasks. It can increase family, social and professional participation and restore an overall level of independence that had been believed to have been lost after the spinal cord injury."
The Manus ARM, which has already received approval for use in Europe and is in the process of obtaining FDA approval for use in the United States, can be attached to the user's wheelchair or positioned near the user. The robotic arm weighs 28.6 pounds and has a reach of 31.5 inches. Its appearance is a more modern spin on the character Number 5 or Johnny Five in the '80s hit movies "Short Circuit" and "Short Circuit 2." The two types of interfaces tested are Cartesian mode and Auto mode. In Cartesian mode, users use a switch or speak commands to first move the robot arm (front, back, left, right, up, and down) and then appropriately orient the hand of the robot (yaw left, yaw right, pitch up, pitch down, roll clockwise, and roll counterclockwise) in order to grasp a desired object. In Auto mode, users simply select an object of interest on a computerized screen and the robotic arm uses a pair of video cameras and touch and grip sensing to automatically guide itself and grasp the object in a single process.
"Using robotic arms for assistance in completing tasks is not experimental," explains Dr. Portée. "However, the controls used for the robotic arm are still being developed and changed to improve the function. We are working to explore and understand which candidates may benefit the most from this technology. We also want to determine which of the two interfaces being used in this study allows patients with spinal cord injuries to manipulate the robotic arm most effectively and efficiently for more independent function with daily living activities."
Over the years, many assistive robotic arms have been developed, though some are cumbersome or limited in adaptability to a user's specific needs. For example, controls may be limited to a joy stick, key pad or sip and puff mechanisms, or the interfaces may require numerous or complicated steps to move the robotic arm.
“In our preliminary testing of commercially available systems, we found that users were frustrated by the unnatural motion control interface for commanding the robot. Our goal in designing the automated system was to reduce the cognitive load for the users and to reduce the time to task completion,” said Dae-Jin Kim, PhD, who is the leader of the development team at UCF.
Orlando Health and UCF are a natural fit for the project.
“Partnering with an industrial collaborator (Exact Dynamics) and a clinical collaborator (Orlando Health) makes sense because it will facilitate rapid translation and adoption of this technology” said Aman Behal, PhD, director of the Assistive Robotics Laboratory at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and NanoScience Technology Center and principal investigator of the study.
There are an estimated 259,000 people living with spinal cord injury in the United States. Each year, there are approximately 12,000 new cases.
The Orlando Health Rehabilitation Institute is the only state designated Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program (BSCIP) facility in Orlando. BSCIP designated facilities are required to maintain the highest level of expertise and experience to address the medical, rehabilitation, and physiological needs of individuals who sustain traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. BSCIP Accreditation requirements include the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
More information about the study
About Orlando Health
Orlando Health is a $1.5 billion not-for-profit health care organization and a community-based network of nine hospitals and care centers in the Orlando region. The organization, which includes the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and pediatrics, is a statutory teaching hospital system that offers both specialty and community hospitals. They are: Orlando Regional Medical Center; Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children; Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies; Lucerne Hospital; Dr. P. Phillips Hospital; South Seminole Hospital; South Lake Hospital (50 percent partnership); St. Cloud Regional Medical Center (20 percent partnership) and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando – the first affiliate of one of the nation’s premier cancer centers The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Orlando Health’s areas of clinical excellence are heart and vascular, cancer care, neurosciences, surgery, pediatric orthopedics and sports medicine, neonatology, and obstetrics and gynecology.
Orlando Health is Central Florida’s fifth largest employer with nearly 14,000 employees and more than 2,000 affiliated physicians, all of whom support our philosophy of providing high quality care and service when it matters most. We prove this everyday with over 100,000 inpatient admissions and more than 600,000 outpatient visits each year. In all, Orlando Health serves 1.6 million Central Florida residents and nearly 3,000 international patients annually. Additionally, Orlando Health provides approximately $198 million in support of community health needs. More information can be found at www.orlandohealth.com.