How technologies change the quality of life: the development of smart prostheses based on ITMO University
Today in Russia the problem of prosthetics is quite acute. Certainly, there are prostheses themselves, but they are most often represented by foreign analogues, Soviet samples, or cosmetic prostheses. And all these options have serious drawbacks, one of which is the price: the cost of foreign devices can reach up to 4 million rubles.
Prices for Russian samples are more democratic, but they combine an outdated design, developed in the mid-60s, and minimal convenience. In today's article we will talk about how graduates of ITMO University change Russian reality and create prostheses and even exoskeletons for those to whom technology can literally change their lives for the better.
Ilya Chekh , a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Mechanics and Technology at ITMO University, together with his team, founded the company “ Motorika ” to help children with hand injuries to feel normal, play snowballs and just continue to actively develop. The technology of 3D printing expands the possibilities of prosthetics: it reduces the cost of making prostheses, reduces the production time to several days and allows the prosthesis to be customized to fit the individual characteristics of the patient. All these advantages are used to create the KIBI children's arm prosthesis.
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Children are a special category of patients, since replacement of artificial limbs is required for them every six months or a year, so the price is of great importance. The cost of one prosthesis "KIBI" is approximately 15,000 rubles. But today, the prosthesis can be obtained even for free, since the obtained certification allows Motorika to distribute its innovative development under the state social program. Therefore, children living in the territory of the Russian Federation can become owners of an active prosthesis at the expense of the Social Insurance Fund.
With the help of 3D printing, each prosthesis is made individually by the measurements from the hand, so it can be made even for a brush with a complex trauma. The only limitation is that the child must maintain the mobility of the wrist joint, due to which the grip is carried out. Special traction cables provide the reduction and alternate compression of the fingers and are fixed on the forearm on the supporting part of the prosthesis.
To manufacture the base of the prosthesis according to individual measurements on a 3D printer, the sintering method is used, which makes the parts stronger and smoother. The receiving sleeve is made of low-temperature thermoplastics, which in flexible water become flexible and take the desired shape, and the traction cables are fixed individually. There are plans to produce standard parts of the prosthesis in large batches, and to print unique parts that take into account the patient’s features on a 3D printer.
The KIBI prosthesis is completely mechanical, but this does not make it inconvenient. With it, children develop the muscles of the arm and in the future will not be able to feel the effects of injury. In addition, the Motoriki team tried to change the perception of the prosthesis in children, turning the prosthesis into a real gadget with a bright individual design: binoculars, a compass, a flashlight, a slingshot, an MP3 player, a GoPro camera and even a quadrocopter control panel are embedded in the high-tech arm.
Motorika develops and bionic prostheses . The main difference is that they can be controlled using their own nervous system by removing the muscle signal from the forearm. The team of Ilya Chekh plans to create the first domestic highly functional bionic prosthesis of the forearm and even a full hand. To date, there are several prototypes of such a prosthetic brush, and the most successful has already been tested on the first user.
Another startup based at ITMO University is the Rehabot project, whose creators have developed a glove to restore fine motor skills after a stroke. The robot flexes and extends the fingers of the hand, which helps to maintain muscle tone when the patient himself is not yet able to move it.
“Every year around 7 million people in the world get fine motor disorders as a result of a stroke. In Russia, there are about 640 thousand. And only half of them return to work. Our robot glove will help increase the number of patients with full recovery, ” explains one of the authors of the project, Vadim Kotenev.
In addition to the glove, developers use special software. Depending on the stage of treatment, the program offers a specific training mode in a game form. For example, when the patient can already control the fingers a little, the program recommends exercises with resistance and burdening to increase efficiency.
The fingers are driven by the crank-slide mechanisms of electric motors, or actuators, located on the back side of the glove. The program analyzes the signals coming from the sensors of muscular activity, determines the nature of the problems and offers the patient a suitable training regime.
Such products are developed in Germany and in Asia, but it is not easy to buy them in Russia, and one of the reasons is the high price (from 200-300 thousand rubles). According to preliminary estimates, the manufacture of one Rehabot glove will cost 25 thousand rubles. In production, more than 70% of domestic components are already used, but manufacturers plan to find analogues of other parts or start their production on metalworking machines and 3D printers (preferably also Russian ones).
The developers believe that in order to provide all Russians in need of such gloves, you need to release about 120,000 robot gloves in the first year of mass production. Then plans to enter the European market. Today, the effectiveness of the simulator has already been confirmed clinically, and its introduction into clinics of Russia has begun.
Another project created at ITMO University is Oriense . The development team has created a device that allows blind and visually impaired people to navigate in space, designed to increase their independence and social adaptation. 3D computer vision and global navigation technologies make life easier for the visually impaired.
The Oriense device consists of a forward-facing 3D camera, side cameras and a microcomputer. The device receives information and creates a "depth map", which indicates the range of all surrounding objects using the intensity of the color of objects.
The developers suggest using auxiliary devices for orientation in space: the OrNavi navigator and the OrCV camera. The complex of these devices offers various useful functions , for example, it lays routes, describes the world around it (buildings, institutions, intersections), warns of danger (road signs, pits, steps), reads various inscriptions and recognizes banknotes.
The prototype of the device was made on the basis of Kinect, later Israeli PrimeSense Carmine sensors were used in the development.
The multifunctional GPS / GLONASS navigator OrNavi does not require connection to mobile networks and works offline, thereby increasing battery life (in navigation mode - 20 hours, in camera use mode - 4 hours). Software and maps are updated regularly.
Interaction with the navigator through the physical keyboard on the principle of "one button - one function", which facilitates the use of the device. Information is transmitted to the user through voice messages, sounds and vibrations. In this case, the developers propose to use bone conduction headphones, which leave the ears open, but provide an opportunity to perceive the information.
Another additional feature is a special extension for the OrCV navigator. It uses a camera that “looks” five meters ahead. The camera collects information about the environment, for example, recognizes particularly dangerous objects and ways to circumvent them, and makes moving through the streets more secure. Therefore, when planning the trajectory of movement, visually impaired people no longer need to slow down.
Foreign analogues of the project - Voice Sense systems, I-21 and AUX DECO device, require long training. Oriense has another competitor - the OrCam device, which is mounted on glasses for reading texts and recognizing the color signals of traffic lights. But OrCam cannot be used by completely blind people and costs about $ 2.5 thousand. The cost of the Oriense navigator is 24,000 rubles, and the camera module is 15,000. Today, charitable foundations are involved in its distribution, so people with vision problems can get discounted devices or even free.
Another development of a group of ITMO University students headed by Nikita Lipovich is an active orthosis that attaches to the knee joint and automatically flexes and extends the leg, which accelerates the rehabilitation of the motor functions of the patients knee.
The device consists of a conventional passive orthosis and an active part, which is attached on top of it to the knee joint. In fact, it is close to the exoskeleton and is their small subspecies. “The active mechanical orthosis itself consists of a stepper drive, which is responsible for creating the torque transmitted to the developed drive, and a controller with sensors for the algorithm making the decision about bending and unbending,” Nikita Lipovich describes his development.
The device can adapt to any person with minimal settings due to the hybrid method for detecting the pitch phase and knee bending angle. Special sensors on the foot and mems-chips (accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer) allow you to predict when it is necessary to control the orthosis drives.
The cost of development excluding marketing costs will be about 45–48 thousand rubles. While the prototype is being developed, the part collecting information from the pressing sectors located on the foot as well as various mems sensors is already ready, and a sample of the drive has been created which is in the process of being finalized. In the near future, the first clinical trials will be conducted.
At ITMO University, other technologies are being studied that are used to create exoskeletons and active prostheses. In particular, scientists of the ITMO University are exploring the possibilities of controlling such devices based on information about the bioelectric potentials that arise in skeletal muscles when they are excited. This information is obtained using electromyography, and signal analysis allows you to determine the planned movement of a person to activate the exoskeleton or prosthesis. Therefore, the main thing is to correctly decipher the signal received from the muscles (to solve this problem, researchers use neural networks, which allows them to determine the type of movement with an accuracy of 94%).
Another study formed the basis for developing a multifunctional active prosthetic arm. The actuator of such a prosthesis contains 9 force effect sensors and an electroencephalograph signal recorder, the electrodes of which are attached to the head of the operator. The brush is controlled by processing the EEG signals, and a hand simulator allows you to take readings from the biosignal amplifier and visualize them. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to accurately determine the individual parameters of the hand and improve the accuracy of control.
The development of prosthetic technologies helps not only to prolong the period of active life in people. Yury Baulin, Leading Engineer of the Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry I. Sechenov, an employee of the natural science department of the ITMO University, is confident that modern technologies, including bionic prostheses, will be able to increase the lifetime itself to 150–200 years. Of course, this will not happen soon, but humanity must continue to develop and conquer disease.
Prices for Russian samples are more democratic, but they combine an outdated design, developed in the mid-60s, and minimal convenience. In today's article we will talk about how graduates of ITMO University change Russian reality and create prostheses and even exoskeletons for those to whom technology can literally change their lives for the better.
Prostheses for little superheroes
Ilya Chekh , a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Mechanics and Technology at ITMO University, together with his team, founded the company “ Motorika ” to help children with hand injuries to feel normal, play snowballs and just continue to actively develop. The technology of 3D printing expands the possibilities of prosthetics: it reduces the cost of making prostheses, reduces the production time to several days and allows the prosthesis to be customized to fit the individual characteristics of the patient. All these advantages are used to create the KIBI children's arm prosthesis.
')
Children are a special category of patients, since replacement of artificial limbs is required for them every six months or a year, so the price is of great importance. The cost of one prosthesis "KIBI" is approximately 15,000 rubles. But today, the prosthesis can be obtained even for free, since the obtained certification allows Motorika to distribute its innovative development under the state social program. Therefore, children living in the territory of the Russian Federation can become owners of an active prosthesis at the expense of the Social Insurance Fund.
With the help of 3D printing, each prosthesis is made individually by the measurements from the hand, so it can be made even for a brush with a complex trauma. The only limitation is that the child must maintain the mobility of the wrist joint, due to which the grip is carried out. Special traction cables provide the reduction and alternate compression of the fingers and are fixed on the forearm on the supporting part of the prosthesis.
To manufacture the base of the prosthesis according to individual measurements on a 3D printer, the sintering method is used, which makes the parts stronger and smoother. The receiving sleeve is made of low-temperature thermoplastics, which in flexible water become flexible and take the desired shape, and the traction cables are fixed individually. There are plans to produce standard parts of the prosthesis in large batches, and to print unique parts that take into account the patient’s features on a 3D printer.
The KIBI prosthesis is completely mechanical, but this does not make it inconvenient. With it, children develop the muscles of the arm and in the future will not be able to feel the effects of injury. In addition, the Motoriki team tried to change the perception of the prosthesis in children, turning the prosthesis into a real gadget with a bright individual design: binoculars, a compass, a flashlight, a slingshot, an MP3 player, a GoPro camera and even a quadrocopter control panel are embedded in the high-tech arm.
Motorika develops and bionic prostheses . The main difference is that they can be controlled using their own nervous system by removing the muscle signal from the forearm. The team of Ilya Chekh plans to create the first domestic highly functional bionic prosthesis of the forearm and even a full hand. To date, there are several prototypes of such a prosthetic brush, and the most successful has already been tested on the first user.
Rehabilitation Technologies
Another startup based at ITMO University is the Rehabot project, whose creators have developed a glove to restore fine motor skills after a stroke. The robot flexes and extends the fingers of the hand, which helps to maintain muscle tone when the patient himself is not yet able to move it.
“Every year around 7 million people in the world get fine motor disorders as a result of a stroke. In Russia, there are about 640 thousand. And only half of them return to work. Our robot glove will help increase the number of patients with full recovery, ” explains one of the authors of the project, Vadim Kotenev.
In addition to the glove, developers use special software. Depending on the stage of treatment, the program offers a specific training mode in a game form. For example, when the patient can already control the fingers a little, the program recommends exercises with resistance and burdening to increase efficiency.
The fingers are driven by the crank-slide mechanisms of electric motors, or actuators, located on the back side of the glove. The program analyzes the signals coming from the sensors of muscular activity, determines the nature of the problems and offers the patient a suitable training regime.
Such products are developed in Germany and in Asia, but it is not easy to buy them in Russia, and one of the reasons is the high price (from 200-300 thousand rubles). According to preliminary estimates, the manufacture of one Rehabot glove will cost 25 thousand rubles. In production, more than 70% of domestic components are already used, but manufacturers plan to find analogues of other parts or start their production on metalworking machines and 3D printers (preferably also Russian ones).
The developers believe that in order to provide all Russians in need of such gloves, you need to release about 120,000 robot gloves in the first year of mass production. Then plans to enter the European market. Today, the effectiveness of the simulator has already been confirmed clinically, and its introduction into clinics of Russia has begun.
"Prosthesis" for the blind
Another project created at ITMO University is Oriense . The development team has created a device that allows blind and visually impaired people to navigate in space, designed to increase their independence and social adaptation. 3D computer vision and global navigation technologies make life easier for the visually impaired.
The Oriense device consists of a forward-facing 3D camera, side cameras and a microcomputer. The device receives information and creates a "depth map", which indicates the range of all surrounding objects using the intensity of the color of objects.
The developers suggest using auxiliary devices for orientation in space: the OrNavi navigator and the OrCV camera. The complex of these devices offers various useful functions , for example, it lays routes, describes the world around it (buildings, institutions, intersections), warns of danger (road signs, pits, steps), reads various inscriptions and recognizes banknotes.
The prototype of the device was made on the basis of Kinect, later Israeli PrimeSense Carmine sensors were used in the development.
The multifunctional GPS / GLONASS navigator OrNavi does not require connection to mobile networks and works offline, thereby increasing battery life (in navigation mode - 20 hours, in camera use mode - 4 hours). Software and maps are updated regularly.
Interaction with the navigator through the physical keyboard on the principle of "one button - one function", which facilitates the use of the device. Information is transmitted to the user through voice messages, sounds and vibrations. In this case, the developers propose to use bone conduction headphones, which leave the ears open, but provide an opportunity to perceive the information.
Another additional feature is a special extension for the OrCV navigator. It uses a camera that “looks” five meters ahead. The camera collects information about the environment, for example, recognizes particularly dangerous objects and ways to circumvent them, and makes moving through the streets more secure. Therefore, when planning the trajectory of movement, visually impaired people no longer need to slow down.
Foreign analogues of the project - Voice Sense systems, I-21 and AUX DECO device, require long training. Oriense has another competitor - the OrCam device, which is mounted on glasses for reading texts and recognizing the color signals of traffic lights. But OrCam cannot be used by completely blind people and costs about $ 2.5 thousand. The cost of the Oriense navigator is 24,000 rubles, and the camera module is 15,000. Today, charitable foundations are involved in its distribution, so people with vision problems can get discounted devices or even free.
Mini exoskeleton
Another development of a group of ITMO University students headed by Nikita Lipovich is an active orthosis that attaches to the knee joint and automatically flexes and extends the leg, which accelerates the rehabilitation of the motor functions of the patients knee.
The device consists of a conventional passive orthosis and an active part, which is attached on top of it to the knee joint. In fact, it is close to the exoskeleton and is their small subspecies. “The active mechanical orthosis itself consists of a stepper drive, which is responsible for creating the torque transmitted to the developed drive, and a controller with sensors for the algorithm making the decision about bending and unbending,” Nikita Lipovich describes his development.
The device can adapt to any person with minimal settings due to the hybrid method for detecting the pitch phase and knee bending angle. Special sensors on the foot and mems-chips (accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer) allow you to predict when it is necessary to control the orthosis drives.
The cost of development excluding marketing costs will be about 45–48 thousand rubles. While the prototype is being developed, the part collecting information from the pressing sectors located on the foot as well as various mems sensors is already ready, and a sample of the drive has been created which is in the process of being finalized. In the near future, the first clinical trials will be conducted.
At ITMO University, other technologies are being studied that are used to create exoskeletons and active prostheses. In particular, scientists of the ITMO University are exploring the possibilities of controlling such devices based on information about the bioelectric potentials that arise in skeletal muscles when they are excited. This information is obtained using electromyography, and signal analysis allows you to determine the planned movement of a person to activate the exoskeleton or prosthesis. Therefore, the main thing is to correctly decipher the signal received from the muscles (to solve this problem, researchers use neural networks, which allows them to determine the type of movement with an accuracy of 94%).
Another study formed the basis for developing a multifunctional active prosthetic arm. The actuator of such a prosthesis contains 9 force effect sensors and an electroencephalograph signal recorder, the electrodes of which are attached to the head of the operator. The brush is controlled by processing the EEG signals, and a hand simulator allows you to take readings from the biosignal amplifier and visualize them. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to accurately determine the individual parameters of the hand and improve the accuracy of control.
The development of prosthetic technologies helps not only to prolong the period of active life in people. Yury Baulin, Leading Engineer of the Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry I. Sechenov, an employee of the natural science department of the ITMO University, is confident that modern technologies, including bionic prostheses, will be able to increase the lifetime itself to 150–200 years. Of course, this will not happen soon, but humanity must continue to develop and conquer disease.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/312362/
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