Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart Platform

Wearable technologies have aided in reducing pathological tremor symptoms through non-intrusive solutions that aim to identify patterns in involuntary movements and suppress them using actuators positioned at specific joints. However, during the development of these devices, tests were primarily con...

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Main Authors: Jair Fajardo, Leonimer Flávio de Melo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-11-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/22/9020
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author Jair Fajardo
Leonimer Flávio de Melo
author_facet Jair Fajardo
Leonimer Flávio de Melo
author_sort Jair Fajardo
collection DOAJ
description Wearable technologies have aided in reducing pathological tremor symptoms through non-intrusive solutions that aim to identify patterns in involuntary movements and suppress them using actuators positioned at specific joints. However, during the development of these devices, tests were primarily conducted on patients due to the difficulty of faithfully simulating tremors using simulation equipment. Based on studies characterizing tremors in Parkinson’s disease, the development of a robotic manipulator based on the Stewart platform was initiated, with the goal of satisfactorily simulating resting tremor movements in the hands. In this work, a simulator was implemented in a computational environment using the multibody dynamics method. The platform structure was designed in a virtual environment using SOLIDWORKS<sup>®</sup> v2017 software and later exported to Matlab<sup>®</sup> R17a software using the Simulink environment and Simscape multibody library. The workspace was evaluated, and the Kalman filter was used to merge acceleration and angular velocity data and convert them into data related to the inclination and rotation of real patients’ wrists, which were subsequently executed in the simulator. The results show a high correlation and low dispersion between real and simulated signals, demonstrating that the simulated mechanism has the capacity to represent Parkinson’s disease resting tremors in all wrist movements. The system could contribute to conducting tremor tests in suppression devices without the need for the presence of the patient and aid in comparing suppression techniques, benefiting the development of new wearable devices.
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spelling doaj.art-d496c9c4916643d49333dff07cab55842023-11-24T15:05:02ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202023-11-012322902010.3390/s23229020Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart PlatformJair Fajardo0Leonimer Flávio de Melo1Federal Institute of Paraná, Assis Chateaubriand Campus, Assis Chateaubriand 85935-000, BrazilDepartment of Electrical Engineering, State University of Londrina, Londrina 86057-970, BrazilWearable technologies have aided in reducing pathological tremor symptoms through non-intrusive solutions that aim to identify patterns in involuntary movements and suppress them using actuators positioned at specific joints. However, during the development of these devices, tests were primarily conducted on patients due to the difficulty of faithfully simulating tremors using simulation equipment. Based on studies characterizing tremors in Parkinson’s disease, the development of a robotic manipulator based on the Stewart platform was initiated, with the goal of satisfactorily simulating resting tremor movements in the hands. In this work, a simulator was implemented in a computational environment using the multibody dynamics method. The platform structure was designed in a virtual environment using SOLIDWORKS<sup>®</sup> v2017 software and later exported to Matlab<sup>®</sup> R17a software using the Simulink environment and Simscape multibody library. The workspace was evaluated, and the Kalman filter was used to merge acceleration and angular velocity data and convert them into data related to the inclination and rotation of real patients’ wrists, which were subsequently executed in the simulator. The results show a high correlation and low dispersion between real and simulated signals, demonstrating that the simulated mechanism has the capacity to represent Parkinson’s disease resting tremors in all wrist movements. The system could contribute to conducting tremor tests in suppression devices without the need for the presence of the patient and aid in comparing suppression techniques, benefiting the development of new wearable devices.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/22/9020tremor simulationParkinson’s diseasemultibody dynamicswearable devicesassistive technologiessystems modeling
spellingShingle Jair Fajardo
Leonimer Flávio de Melo
Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart Platform
Sensors
tremor simulation
Parkinson’s disease
multibody dynamics
wearable devices
assistive technologies
systems modeling
title Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart Platform
title_full Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart Platform
title_fullStr Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart Platform
title_full_unstemmed Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart Platform
title_short Towards a Modular Pathological Tremor Simulation System Based on the Stewart Platform
title_sort towards a modular pathological tremor simulation system based on the stewart platform
topic tremor simulation
Parkinson’s disease
multibody dynamics
wearable devices
assistive technologies
systems modeling
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/22/9020
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