This technology is a hemiplegia treatment device that enables bilateral limb movement by measuring the movement of a hemiplegia patient's unaffected side using motion capture, electromyography (EMG), and inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors, and analyzing this data in real-time to drive the joints of an exoskeleton robot worn on the affected side.
Conventional hemiplegia treatment often relies on simple, repetitive motions, resulting in low rehabilitation efficiency. Existing wearable robots function primarily as simple braces, which limits their ability to induce neuroplasticity and makes it difficult to implement systematic rehabilitation that leverages a patient's cognitive illusions.
This technology proposes a system that combines a control unit, which receives motion data from the unaffected side to drive the robot on the affected side in real-time, with visual separation devices such as screens or mirrors that block the view of the unaffected side to make the patient perceive that their affected side is moving normally. This approach provides effective rehabilitation by inducing neuroplasticity. It can be used for the rehabilitation of stroke patients with hemiplegia, and by combining visual illusions with robotic movement, it is expected to deliver superior rehabilitation outcomes compared to traditional repetitive training.
US2014-0172166A1
