Quantifying learned non-use after stroke using unilateral and bilateral steering tasks.

Learned non-use (LNU) is common after stroke and manifests when persons with stroke spontaneously use their stronger less-impaired arm despite residual functional abilities in the impaired arm. This tendency of under utilizing the impaired arm slows down the re-acquisition of bilateral coordination on activities of daily living. We wanted to examine whether this behavior could be studied and quantified using the TheraDrive system, a low-cost, mechatronic/robotic stroke rehabilitation system which uses a commercial force-feedback steering wheel along with custom games and unilateral and bilateral steering tasks for therapy and assessment.

Bilateral assessment of functional tasks for robot-assisted therapy applications.

This article presents a novel evaluation system along with methods to evaluate bilateral coordination of arm function on activities of daily living tasks before and after robot-assisted therapy. An affordable bilateral assessment system (BiAS) consisting of two mini-passive measuring units modeled as three degree of freedom robots is described. The process for evaluating functional tasks using the BiAS is presented and we demonstrate its ability to measure wrist kinematic trajectories.

Low-cost monitoring of patients during unsupervised robot/computer assisted motivating stroke rehabilitation.

There is a need for effective stroke rehabilitation systems that can be used in undersupervised/unsupervised environments such as the home to assist in improving and/or sustaining functional outcomes. We determined the stability, accuracy and usability of an extremely low-cost mobile robot for use with a robot/computer motivating rehabilitation device, TheraDrive. The robot provided cues to discourage excessive trunk movements and to encourage arm movements.

Evaluation of the TheraDrive system for robot/computer assisted motivating rehabilitation after stroke.

This paper presents experimental data evaluating the merits of using a fun and engaging therapy protocol over a less engaging one in the context of a low-cost robot/computer motivating rehabilitation system for stroke rehabilitation called TheraDrive. The preliminary results suggest that there is a small advantage of the engaging therapy over the rote therapy in reducing motor impairment, improving ADL function, and improving stability. The more engaging protocol has an advantage in maintaining engagement and interest in therapy.