Intelligent Assistive Technologies in Rehabilitation Engineering for People Living with Upper Limb Disabilities

在加拿大，13.7%的成年人由于至少一种残疾而限制了他们的日常活动。许多人在执行日常任务时面临挑战，必须依靠照顾者的帮助。从长远来看，这种依赖是不可行的。事实上，加拿大在未来20年将面临的一个关键挑战是应对人口老龄化，包括劳动力老龄化。事实上，人口统计数据显示，加拿大65岁以上的人口预计将从2013年的16%上升到2026年的25%，2061年达到28%。更多的公民将受到独立性降低的影响，无法充分参与社会和经济活动。用于照顾残疾人和老年人的资源将会减少，工业工人也会减少。本提案概述了一项康复工程创新研究计划，其长期目标是基于快速发展的技术开发新一代创新辅助技术（at）， 1)为残疾人和老年人提供帮助，提高他们的自主性和生活质量，2)预防体力劳动者受伤。在这项为期五年的研究计划的背景下，短期目标分为三个主题，其中将使用基于设计思维的跨学科用户为中心的参与式开发方法，利用与工程和康复研究人员、临床环境中的医疗保健专业人员和最终用户的协作开发和验证。主题1-运动障碍援助的预期控制：发展预期运动援助的新概念，通过在无意识运动发生之前检测和反应来运作。主题2-辅助机器人智能多模态控制接口：开发通用多传感器自适应接口，通过智能算法利用传感器组合协同。主题3-可穿戴个性化肌肉过载反馈：开发个性化智能算法，集成到生物医学可穿戴设备中，评估肌肉过载，并在用户处于易受伤状态时实时提醒用户。拟议的研究项目将培养3名博士、4名理学硕士和5名康复工程学士，更具体地说，是在机器人、机电一体化、人工智能、先进传感器、控制接口和医疗设备等领域。这些领域在行业中需求量很大，训练有素的HQP将成为加拿大公司或创业公司的资产。我们希望我们的研究成果能像过去一样直接转化为行业。面向老年人和残疾人的人工智能是一个巨大的23G美元市场（2020年），预计到2026年将达到32G美元。因此，加拿大通过支持这一领域的研究项目来预测这一趋势是至关重要的，这将产生社会和经济影响。

In Canada, 13.7% of adults are limited in their daily activities due to at least one disability. Many face challenges performing daily tasks and must rely on caregivers for assistance. This dependence is not viable in the long term. Indeed, a critical challenge Canada will be facing in the next 20 years is coping with its aging population, including an aging workforce. Indeed, demographic data indicates Canada's population over 65 years old is estimated to go from 16% in 2013 to 25% in 2026, and to 28% in 2061. More citizens will be affected by reduced independence and will be unable to fully participate socially and economically. Fewer resources will be available to care for those with disabilities and older adults, and there will be fewer workers in industry. This proposal outlines an innovative research program in rehabilitation engineering with the long-term objective of developing a new generation of innovative assistive technologies (ATs) based on rapidly advancing technologies 1) for people living with disabilities and older adults, to increase their autonomy and quality of life, and 2) for the prevention of injury for manual workers. In the context of this five-year research program, the short-term objectives are split into three themes where an interdisciplinary user-centered participative development methodology based on Design Thinking will be used, leveraging collaborative development and validation with engineering and rehabilitation researchers, healthcare professionals in clinical settings, and end users. Theme 1- Anticipatory control for movement disorder assistance: developing new concepts of anticipatory movement assistance that operate by detecting and reacting to involuntary movements before they happen. Theme 2- Intelligent multimodal control interfaces for assistive robot: developing a universal multi-sensor adaptable interface, harnessing sensor combination synergy through intelligent algorithms. Theme 3- Wearable individualized muscle overload feedback: developing individualized intelligent algorithms to integrate into biomedical wearable devices to estimate muscular overload and alert users in real time when they are in a state prone to injury. The proposed research program will lead to the training of 3 PhDs, 4 MScs and 5 BScs students in rehabilitation engineering, more specifically in the fields of robotics, mechatronics, artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, control interfaces, and medical devices. These fields are in great demand in the industry, and the trained HQP will become assets for Canadian companies or launch startups. We expect our research results to transfer directly to the industry, as they have in the past. ATs for older adults and people living with disabilities is a significant $23G market (2020) and is estimated to reach $32G by 2026. It is therefore critical for Canada to anticipate this trend by supporting research projects in this area, which will have both social and economic impacts.