ERC-Small Business: Virtual Coach for Home-based Neuro-robotic Therapy

ERC-小型企业：家庭神经机器人治疗虚拟教练

• 批准号: 1128614
• 负责人: Daniel Siewiorek
• 金额: $ 19.56万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-15 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1128614&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ERC; Small; Business; Virtual; Coach

ABSTRACT1128614Carnegie Mellon UniversitySieworek This effort is a collaboration between the Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) Center, an NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) since 2006, and Myomo, a small business partner of the ERC. Myomo has been developing and testing neuro-robotic devices in leading US hospitals. The Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) Center has been developing a technology called Virtual Coach to coach exercises, to encourage general physical activity, and to ensure proper use of assistive technologies. The goal of the proposed collaboration is to enable therapists to provide support to their patients in a virtual context, i.e., without actually being present, through the use of computer-based surrogates. This Virtual Coach will complement another promising approach, neuro-robotic therapy, that helps patients re-learn how to move partially paralyzed (hemi-paretic) arms using their own muscle signals. This project has two objectives. The translational research objective is to specialize QoLT Virtual Coach technology to realize a neuro-robotic therapy monitoring and reporting capability. Myomo will commercialize the resulting Virtual Coach prototype, thereby broadening its product line to include valued companion software for its new line of mPower hardware devices. The exploratory research objective is to make the Virtual Coach more autonomous, i.e., to have it behave more like a human therapist through functions like self-adjusting the therapeutic regimen and responding to non-verbal cues from the patient during exercise sessions. Intellectual MeritThe research addresses the significant challenge in computer-based coaching of devising algorithms that affect human behavior in an intended way. It is difficult to predict how people will react to commands, instructions, prompts and rewards. Some people respond well to nurturing, while others respond better to commands. In addition a particular individual may respond differently from day-to-day. To be a viable, pervasive solution, Virtual Coach devices will need to tune themselves to the psychology of the people they serve. The research also addresses the challenge of designing interactions between humans and sophisticated technologies for users who themselves may not be technologically inclined. This is particularly relevant for products that would most benefit older adults, who are generally among the least versed in, and sometimes intimidated by, computers, the Internet, smartphones, etc Broader Impact Stroke occurs in 2.9% of the US adult population and there are nearly 800,000 new or recurring cases annually. Neuromuscular impairment is a common consequence that can be overcome with appropriate therapy. The new product that will result form this project will alleviate some of the need for face-to-face therapy sessions, will require less time from qualified care providers, and potentially lower the total cost for therapy for stroke victims.

卡内基梅隆大学Sieworek这项工作是生活质量技术（QoLT）中心（NSF工程研究中心（ERC）自2006年以来）和Myomo（ERC的小企业合作伙伴）之间的合作。Myomo一直在美国领先的医院开发和测试神经机器人设备。生活质量技术（QoLT）中心一直在开发一种名为虚拟教练的技术，以指导锻炼，鼓励一般的体育活动，并确保正确使用辅助技术。拟议合作的目标是使治疗师能够在虚拟环境中为患者提供支持，即，通过使用基于计算机的代理人，无需实际在场。这种虚拟教练将补充另一种有前途的方法，神经机器人治疗，帮助患者重新学习如何使用自己的肌肉信号移动部分瘫痪（偏瘫）的手臂。该项目有两个目标。翻译研究的目标是专门的QoLT虚拟教练技术，实现神经机器人治疗监测和报告能力。Myomo将把由此产生的虚拟教练原型商业化，从而扩大其产品线，为其新的mPower硬件设备系列包括有价值的配套软件。探索性研究的目标是使虚拟教练更加自主，即，通过自我调整治疗方案和在锻炼过程中对患者的非语言提示做出反应等功能，使其表现得更像人类治疗师。智力优点这项研究解决了基于计算机的教练设计算法，以预期的方式影响人类行为的重大挑战。很难预测人们对命令、指示、提示和奖励的反应。有些人对养育反应良好，而另一些人对命令反应更好。此外，一个特定的人可能会每天做出不同的反应。为了成为一个可行的、普遍的解决方案，虚拟教练设备需要根据他们所服务的人的心理来调整自己。 这项研究还解决了为那些本身可能没有技术倾向的用户设计人类和复杂技术之间交互的挑战。这对于最能使老年人受益的产品尤其重要，老年人通常是最不精通计算机、互联网、智能手机等的人，有时甚至会受到计算机、互联网、智能手机等的恐吓。神经肌肉损伤是一种常见的后果，可以通过适当的治疗来克服。该项目产生的新产品将减轻一些面对面治疗的需求，将需要更少的时间从合格的护理提供者，并可能降低中风患者治疗的总成本。