I-Corps: Passive Tactile Learning Gloves

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发被动触觉学习手套和用于手动任务学习和康复的相关系统。学生和病人的困难往往源于缺乏时间练习或进行练习。缓慢而不明确的进展会导致沮丧和失去动力。通过使用个性化系统，允许用户定制和分享课程或治疗“会话”序列，被动触觉刺激的进步可能会很明显。教师或治疗师通过系统提供“会议”和反馈，改善那些无法亲自参加会议的人的生活。手工任务学习（钢琴、文本输入）和康复辅助工具（中风、脊髓损伤、脑瘫）的市场涵盖了不同的人口结构。这项技术的市场是广阔的，例如，在40多个州的3到6年级都教授键盘。在美国，到2030年，估计有1000万成年中风幸存者，上肢残疾发生在50%的病例中。此外，估计有32万脊髓损伤（SCI）幸存者。全球有1700多万人患有脑瘫，痉挛影响了70%至80%的人。这项技术可以帮助这些不同群体的教学和康复。这个I-Corps项目是基于被动触觉学习（PTL）手套的开发，用于手动任务的学习和康复。这项技术全天对手指进行刺激，产生被动学习和/或被动康复效果。在PTL手套开发之前，很少有研究报道通过触觉刺激进行被动学习。大多数触觉学习技能一直是活跃的。PTL手套在教授新手新的手工技能方面令人惊讶地有效，例如弹奏钢琴旋律，键入莫尔斯电码，数字输入或键入盲文。使用PTL手套的中风和部分脊髓损伤幸存者在感觉、灵活性和痉挛方面表现出改善。脑瘫患者也可能同样受益，目前正在进行相关研究。问题仍然是最佳的时间表和组合的被动和主动学习暴露，以最好地帮助新学习者。此外，被动触觉刺激可能对中风、部分脊髓损伤、脑瘫、多发性硬化症、帕金森氏症和许多其他疾病的康复有效。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of passive tactile learning gloves and associated systems for manual task learning and rehabilitation. Students’ and patients’ difficulties often stem from lack of time to practice or perform exercises. Slow and unclear progress leads to frustration and demotivation. Progress improvements through passive tactile stimulation may be evident through the use of personalized systems allowing users to customize and share lessons or therapy “session” sequences. Teachers or therapists provide “sessions” and feedback with the system, improving the lives of those unable to attend in-person sessions. Markets for manual task learning (piano, text entry) and rehabilitation aids (for stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy) span diverse demographics. The market for this technology is broad, for example, keyboarding is taught in grades 3 to 6 in over 40 states. In the US, 10 million adult survivors of stroke are estimated by 2030, with upper limb disability occurring in ~50% of cases. In addition, there are estimated to be 320,000 spinal cord injury (SCI) survivors. Globally, over 17 million people have cerebral palsy, with spasticity affecting 70 to 80%. This technology may assist in teaching and rehabilitation of these varied groups. This I-Corps project is based on the development of passive tactile learning (PTL) Gloves for manual task learning and rehabilitation. This technology applies stimulation to the fingers throughout the day, eliciting a passive learning and/or passive rehabilitation effect. Until the development of PTL gloves, little research had been reported for passive learning through tactile stimulation. Most haptic learning of skills has been active. The PTL gloves are surprisingly effective at teaching novices new manual skills such as playing piano melodies, keying Morse code, number entry, or typing Braille. Stroke and partial spinal cord injury survivors using the PTL gloves have shown improvements in sensation, dexterity, and spasticity. Individuals with cerebral palsy also may benefit similarly and studies are currently underway. Questions remain as to the optimal schedule and combination of passive and active learning exposure so as to best assist new learners. In addition, passive tactile stimulation might be effective for rehabilitation for stroke, partial spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and a host of other illnesses.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.