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Development of an MR-compatible hand exoskeleton that is capable of providing interactive robotic rehabilitation during fMRI imaging

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Abstract

Following advances in robotic rehabilitation, there have been many efforts to investigate the recovery process and effectiveness of robotic rehabilitation procedures through monitoring the activation status of the brain. This work presents the development of a two degree-of-freedom (DoF) magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible hand device that can perform robotic rehabilitation procedures inside an fMRI scanner. The device is capable of providing real-time monitoring of the joint angle, angular velocity, and joint force produced by the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints of four fingers. For force measurement, a custom reflective optical force sensor was developed and characterized in terms of accuracy error, hysteresis, and repeatability in the MR environment. The proposed device consists of two non-magnetic ultrasonic motors to provide assistive and resistive forces to the MCP and PIP joints. With actuation and sensing capabilities, both non-voluntary–passive movements and active–voluntary movements can be implemented. The MR compatibility of the device was verified via the analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of MR images of phantoms. SNR drops of 0.25, 2.94, and 11.82% were observed when the device was present but not activated, when only the custom force sensor was activated, and when both the custom force sensor and actuators were activated, respectively.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (No. 2015-002966).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Mechanical Engineering, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Systems Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea

    Sangjoon J. Kim, Hyosang Lee, Pouya Ghasemlou & Jung Kim

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, Republic of Korea

    Yeongjin Kim

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  1. Sangjoon J. Kim
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  2. Yeongjin Kim
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  3. Hyosang Lee
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  4. Pouya Ghasemlou
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  5. Jung Kim
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Correspondence to Jung Kim.

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Kim, S.J., Kim, Y., Lee, H. et al. Development of an MR-compatible hand exoskeleton that is capable of providing interactive robotic rehabilitation during fMRI imaging. Med Biol Eng Comput 56, 261–272 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-017-1681-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-017-1681-3

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