STTR Phase I: Low-Cost Portable Telerehabilitation System for Intelligent Stretching and Remote Assessment of Hypertonic Elbow Joint

这个小型企业技术转移(STTR)第一阶段项目将开发一种具有创新智能控制的低成本和便携式远程康复系统，为包括中风、脊髓损伤、多发性硬化症和脑瘫儿童在内的神经疾病患者提供潜在更有效的治疗。开发的系统将提供(1)肘部痉挛和痉挛的治疗和(2)肘部痉挛/痉挛的远程评估和治疗的改善。在治疗功能方面，将开发一种便携式机器人设备，通过创新的智能控制阻力扭矩和拉伸速度，将受损的肘关节拉伸到其极端位置。肢体伸展装置的设计具有低成本和便携性，使患者可以方便地使用具有用户友好界面的智能伸展疗法。对于远程评估功能，将开发一种触觉设备，临床医生可以通过它与患者进行远程交互。该设备的低成本和便携性将使所开发的系统适合患者家庭和本地诊所使用，具有潜在的巨大市场。他们还将让更多的患者轻松获得治疗，这可以直接使中风等神经疾病患者受益。中风在美国每年发生约75万例，相关医疗费用高达数十亿美元。

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop a low-cost and portable tele-rehabilitation system with innovative intelligent control to provide potentially more effective therapy to patients with neurological disorders, including stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and children with cerebral palsy. The system developed will provide (1) treatment of elbow with spasticity and contracture and (2) tele-assessment of the elbow spasticity/contracture and improvement from the treatment. For the treatment function, a portable robotic device will be developed to stretch the impaired elbow joint to its extreme positions with innovative intelligent control of the resistance torque and stretching velocity. The limb-stretching device will be designed with low-cost and portability to make the intelligent stretching therapy with user-friendly interface easily available to the patients. For the remote assessment function, a haptic device through which the clinicians can remotely interact with the patients will be developed. The low cost and portability of the proposed device will make the developed system suitable for patient home and local clinic use, reaching a potentially large market. They will also allow more patients to get therapy easily which can directly benefit patients with neurological disorder such as stroke which has about 750,000 occurrences per year in the US with relevant medical expenses in the billions of dollars.