Upper Limb Rehabilitation Suit

Another Panasonic technology. Lets get this tested in live therapy.
Technology Characteristics:
Operation Sensing on the healthy side
Operation Teaching on the affected side
http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/en060925-6/en060925-6.html


Panasonic, the leading brand for which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, announced that it has developed a prototype robotic suit designed to help recovering the upper-limb movement of stroke patients who are paralyzed on one side of the body.

The robotic suit, REALIVE™, includes sensors and rubber muscles controlled by compressed air. When patients move their unaffected arm, sensors detect the movement and send signals to the rubber muscles that are wrapped around the impaired arm mirroring the movement of the unaffected arm. The rubber muscles are linked to a compressor unit with a display indicating the number of times the rubber muscles are moved.

The robotic training device is based on medical findings that visual feedback of the movement and intensive use of the affected upper limb can stimulate the cerebral nerves - that go "off-line" due to cerebrovascular accidents - and improve rehabilitation.¹⁾ The REALIVE™ is also a direct application of results of a research that was conducted as part of the Basic Technology Development for Practical Application of Human Support Robots project run by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).²⁾ The research aimed to help with the rehabilitation of hemiparetic stroke patients.

Panasonic plans to evaluate functions of REALIVE™ in a clinical setting in cooperation with a co-developer, Takaaki Chin, M.D., of the Hyogo Prefectural Rehabilitation Center Hospital, and the Hyogo Assistive Technology Research and Development Institute. Testing on five hemiparetic stroke patients is scheduled to complete by March 2007.

The company aims to commercialize REALIVE™ by March 2009. Panasonic plans to sell to hospitals and institutions, expecting sales of one billion yen for fiscal year 2010. In the long term Panasonic hopes to make the robotic suit affordable at home.

REALIVE™ was developed by Activelink Co., Ltd., Panasonic's in-house venture. The developers sought a "visible but invisible" robotic device that looks friendly, perfectly fits patients' bodies and was safe to use. The REALIVE™ uses pneumatic artificial muscles made of rubber and wearable power-assist technology employing non-contact pressure sensors. The suit was also developed on a universal design concept with the easy-to-use operation panel for patients and caregivers.

According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare statistics, 1.4 million people suffered from stroke in 2002. In 2004 about 120,000 people died of stroke, the third most common cause of death after cancer and heart disease. Based on the data compiled by the Health Information Network in Akita Prefecture, hemiparetic stroke patients account for about 68 percent of all the stroke sufferers.

In conventional rehabilitation exercises, stroke patients are persuaded to train the unaffected limb for compensating the movements of the impaired limb for accomplishing daily needs. Many experts say, however, that it is important for the patients to keep motivation high in rehabilitations. The REALIVE™ encourages stroke patients to re-learn how to use an impaired limb. It also helps patients to work on restoring lost skills at their own initiative under instruction of a rehabilitation expert.