TWI team helps develop device to aid stroke victims’ recovery
A team from the Essex Innovation Centre, a strategic partnership between the University of Essex and Granta Park-based engineering research and technology organisation TWI, is developing a project to assist stroke sufferers with their recovery by improving their hand and arm movement recovery.
For the NeuRestore project, the partnership has been working with a consortium including Generic Robotics Limited and Castalia Innovation Limited.
Generic Robotics created the robotic exoskeleton that covers the whole hand and arm, Castalia Innovation has developed the virtual reality (VR) component of the project, while the Essex Innovation Centre worked on the algorithmic model and the integration with the robotic exoskeleton.
NeuRestore uses relatively inexpensive electroencephalogram (EEG) devices to monitor and record the brain’s electrical patterns while simultaneously receiving trigger feedback or an action output. To achieve a comprehensive picture of cerebral activity, motor imagery (imagining a movement) is employed.
With the repetition of mental images of movements, an algorithmic model is calibrated to identify and classify when the patient shows true intention of movement. The trained model is then paired with a robotic hand exoskeleton so that action outputs are generated from classifying the brain signals, and the movement of the robotic fingers is synchronised with them.
The whole process becomes even more immersive when the patient enters a virtual 3D environment where they can see their hand move, providing a more realistic visual output of their imagined movement. This VR dimension can greatly help with building a stronger link between brain signals and subsequent real-life physical movements. The whole process becomes even more immersive when the patient enters a virtual 3D environment where they can see their hand move, providing a more realistic visual output of their imagined movement. This VR dimension can greatly help with building a stronger link between brain signals and subsequent real-life physical movements.
The NeuRestore consortium was able to commence the project as a result of winning Innovate UK funding in 2019.
In September 2021, NeuRestore was demonstrated at the University of Essex’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership Awards event, giving an insight into progress so far and the further development planned. The demo session utilised a simple EEG ‘Muse Brain-Sensing Headband’ and a pair of exoskeletons, with the user wearing the first exoskeleton one and the second being positioned at a distance. This set-up showed that the exoskeleton motions were exclusively triggered by the algorithmic model being able to classify the EEG signals and were not the output of the healthy user’s movements.
Panos Chatzakos, director of the Essex Innovation Centre, said: “This project is enabled by the complementary expertise and experience of the consortium partners who, together, are combining their knowledge of advanced medical technologies development and application to deliver a brand new support system for stroke patients, that is both affordable and proven effective at making a real difference to people’s recovery.”
According to the Stroke Alliance for Europe, over 13 million new strokes happen each year: up to 80 per cent of stroke survivors face upper limb impairment. However, patients can recover their motor skills through the brain’s neuroplasticity – its ability to adapt to new incoming information.
