An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors.

This paper proposes a method for accurate 3D posture sensing of the soft actuators, which could be applied to the closed-loop control of soft robots. To achieve this, the method employs an array of miniaturized sponge resistive materials along the soft actuator, which uses long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks to solve the end-to-end 3D posture for the soft actuators. The method takes into account the hysteresis of the soft robot and non-linear sensing signals from the flexible bending sensors.

Kinect-based rapid movement training to improve balance recovery for stroke fall prevention: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Falls are more prevalent in stroke survivors than age-matched healthy older adults because of their functional impairment. Rapid balance recovery reaction with adequate range-of-motion and fast response and movement time are crucial to minimize fall risk and prevent serious injurious falls when postural disturbances occur. A Kinect-based Rapid Movement Training (RMT) program was developed to provide real-time feedback to promote faster and larger arm reaching and leg stepping distances toward targets in 22 different directions.

Effects of camera viewing angles on tracking kinematic gait patterns using Azure Kinect, Kinect v2 and Orbbec Astra Pro v2.

Background: Depth sensors could be a portable, affordable, marker-less alternative to three-dimension motion capture systems for gait analysis, but the effects of camera viewing angles on their joint angle tracking performance have not been fully investigated.

Research Questions: This study evaluated the accuracies of three depth sensors [Azure Kinect (AK); Kinect v2 (K2); Orbbec Astra (OA)] for tracking kinematic gait patterns during treadmill walking at five camera viewing angles (0°/22.5°/45°/67.

Effectiveness of taping on functional performance in elite athletes: A systematic review.

Taping has been showing its effect on the rehabilitation aspect with numerous reviews. However, there is lack of evidence on the effect of taping on functional performance, espectially in elite sports settings. This review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of taping intervention on sports-related functional performance among the elite athlete population.

Effects of exercise and nutrition supplementation in community-dwelling older Chinese people with sarcopenia: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Limited trials examining the effect of exercise and nutrition supplementation in older people with sarcopenia are available.

Objectives: to assess the impact of resistance exercise program targeting muscle strength and power with and without nutrition supplementation on gait speed, body composition, physical function and quality of life.

Methods: this trial randomized 113 community-dwelling older Chinese adults aged ≥65 and with sarcopenia defined using the Asian Criteria into one of the three groups: exercise program alone, combined-exercise program and nutrition supplement or waitlist control.

Children with Physical Disabilities at School and Home: Physical Activity and Contextual Characteristics.

The purpose of this study was to assess the physical activity (PA) of children with physical disabilities (PD) in school and home settings and to simultaneously examine selected contextual characteristics in relation to PA in those settings. Children with PD (N = 35; Mean age = 15.67 ± 4.