-
-
Skip navigation
(Access key: S).
Contact information.
After stroke some patients regain no movement of the affected body part. The majority of stroke victims however, regain movement with limited strength. Currently there are groups working on robotic devices that sense and augment body movements. This robotic assistance is hypothesized to improve recovery of strength and/or dexterity in patients. The device we are working towards is a glove or mitten design that could sense and augment finger movements in stroke patients.
We have decided upon a design. We are ordering parts and planning assembly of prototype.
From Left To Right: Tyler Vovos, Mark Reagan, Tom Fleming, Brad Rogers
End-of-Semester Prototype
| Week | Reporting Period Beginning | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 25 | Contact information and first contact with our client were made. Initial meeting with client scheduled. All members compiled there schedules to help our group organize times to meet. All members read the article accompanying the project description "Robot Assisted Exercise". All members began to research. |
| 2 | February 1 | We met with Dr. Jensen (Client) to determine his requirements of our project and to obtain some background information about stroke patients. Based on the information we obtained from Dr. Jensen, our meeting with Professor Thompson, and our preliminary research, we developed a preliminary PDS. Individually, we have been looking through articles related to the project. |
| 3 | February 8 | Individually, we have been drawing design ideas and researching articles. We have created a preliminary schedule through the middle of March, this schedule includes times we feel necessary to meet with Dr. Jensen ( Schedule can be found attached to our progress report). As a group we have set certain criteria that our device must comply with. The device will move all of the fingers of the hand simultaneously. The device will cause the fingers to rotate about the base knuckle. Finally, the device will satisfy stroke patient hand force data. |
| 4 | February 15 | We made groups to investigate certain aspects of the project including microcontrollers, motors, and pressure sensors. Meetings were/have been made with Professor Tompkins and Webster to discuss such things. After a meeting with Professor Tompkins our group has decided to order a BASIC stamp microcontroller kit from the Parallax company. We plan to meet with professor Tom Yen soon to discuss stepper motors for our device. |
| 5 | February 22 | The BASIC stamp microcontroller kit from the company Parallax has been ordered. We met with Professor Yen, he discussed the stepwise approach we are going to have to take with a project of this magnitude. Starting with a basic sensor, controller and motor setup seemed logical to him. He suggested that we use a stepper motor to generate the mechanical motion desired, he also gave us access to some stepper motors to borrow. Additionally, we met with Professor Radwin. Professor Radwin provided us with much information concerning hand forces and an article with a good amount of data. Finally, we have decided to use a blood pressure sensor to start our variable pressure sensing, these are available to us through the BME lab. |
| 6 | February 29 | As a team we completed our mid-semester presentation by splitting it up into parts, and then meeting monday to compile the individual parts. The sections assigned to group members for the powerpoint presentation will be the same ones they are responsible for in the mid-semester report. The assignments to each group member can be found in this week’s progress report. |
| 7 | March 7 | Each individual worked to complete his particular section of the mid-semester paper. We compiled and edited each of our sections of the paper. We received the micro controller which we will be using to develop the control system for our device. |
| 8 | March 14 | Spring Break |
| 9 | March 21 | We received our microcontroller and after becoming familiar with the microcontroller and completing some of the microcontroller tutorials it was decided that additional hardware will be needed. We are in the process of obtaining a key card for access to the BME instrumentation lab, we will be able to borrow our necessary hardware from here. |
| 10 | March 28 | We have filled out the required paper work for access to the BME lab. We began working with the pressure sensor and the amplification necessary for the blood pressure sensor. As a team we went through the basic servo motor project from the microcontroller kit to familiarize ourselves with the microcontroller. We are continuing to research basic electronic circuits, particularly amplifiers and sensors. Finally, we are working on a way to convert the analog signal from the sensor to a digital signal usable by the microcontroller. |
| 11 | April 4 | We have successfully interfaced the sensor, amplifier, analog to digital converter and microcontroller. At our meeting with Dr. Yen, we discussed the actual pin interface between the microcontroller, motor controller, and the stepper motor. Dr. Yen discussed how programming of the motor will work. We also discussed mounting ideas. Some type of worm drive/gear or belt drive system was suggested so as to provide some sort of resistance between the motor and the hand. This will help minimize the amount of power needed at the motor to maintain holding strength and improve battery life. We have contacted Professor Tompkins about the best control chip unit for the stepper motor and we are awaiting a reply. |
| 12 | April 11 | We have been successful in generating conditional responses of a servo motor given variable pressure inputs from the blood pressure sensor. We have found a reasonable worm drive and gear assembly which we have ordered. Additionally, we have ordered a Darlington array chip necessary to interface the microcontroller and stepper motor. Finally, we obtained a DC supply for the microcontroller so batteries will not be an issue now that we are powering the stepper motor. |
| 13 | April 18 | We mounted the high torque stepper motor we intend to use for our final prototype to a hinged set of plates. We attached a gear to the hinge and worm drive to the motor. We successfully interfaced a low torque, unipolar stepper motor and our microcontroller. We were able to get the motor to respond to certain pressure conditions. |
| 14 | April 25 | We obtained the necessary H-bridge chip to interface the higher torque stepper motor and the microcontroller, and successfully programmed the motor to various output speeds based on various inputs of pressure. We configured the device to eliminate the need for the bulky lab equipment. We finalized our poster and completed a rough draft of our final paper for review. |
| 15 | May 2 | Poster Presentation, Finalize Report |
 |
Mid-Semester Presentation (Mar 6 2008, 765 kb) |
 |
Project Design Specifications (Mar 10 2008, 121 kb) |
|
Mid-Semester Report (Mar 12 2008, 698 kb) |
|
End of Semester Poster (May 1 2008, 3881 kb) |
|
Final Report (May 7 2008, 717 kb) |
