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Design of a Symmetry Controller for Cycling Induced by Electrical Stimulation: Preliminary Results on Post‐Acute Stroke Patients
Author(s) -
Ambrosini Emilia,
Ferrante Simona,
Schauer Thomas,
Ferrigno Giancarlo,
Molteni Franco,
Pedrocchi Alessandra
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
artificial organs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1525-1594
pISSN - 0160-564X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1594.2009.00941.x
Subject(s) - stroke (engine) , controller (irrigation) , functional electrical stimulation , cycling , stimulation , crank , physical medicine and rehabilitation , rehabilitation , control theory (sociology) , medicine , computer science , physical therapy , engineering , control (management) , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence , history , motion (physics) , archaeology , agronomy , biology
This study deals with the design of a controller for cycling induced by functional electrical stimulation. The controller will be exploitable in the rehabilitation of hemiparetic patients who need to recover motor symmetry. It uses the pulse width as the control variable in the stimulation of the two legs in order to nullify the unbalance between the torques produced at the two crank arms. It was validated by means of isokinetic trials performed both by healthy subjects and stroke patients. The results showed that the controller was able to reach, and then maintain, a symmetrical pedaling. In the future, the controller will be validated on a larger number of stroke patients.