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The paper presents the development and the validation for an upper limb rehabilitation system for stroke patients. The system uses the functional electrical stimulation (FES) based on surface electrodes knitted into a novel textile glove. The passive mobilization is done by using an exoskeleton mechatronic system. The overall control system accounts for a balanced control between FES, mechatronic exoskeleton, and any remaining patient voluntary control. This project helps the upper limb rehabilitative process and also provides a record of the quantified improvements on a daily basis. This final design will be tested in a clinical environment aiming to help the patients with neuromuscular diseases to evaluate and train their grip force control.

The vibro-tactile P300 based Brain-Computer Interface is an interesting tool for severe impaired patients which cannot communicate using the muscular and visual vias. In this study we presented an improved tactile BCI for binary communication that reduces the wrong answers by adding a threshold to the decision value to achieve a valid answer, otherwise, the BCI gives an indecisive answer to the question. The threshold is calculated using a statistical test on the EEG, data recorded during the question to the patient. In total 7 tactile stimulators were placed on different parts of the subject’s body. We tried the new BCI with 4 healthy subjects and using the statistical test they were able to get no wrong answers after 10 questions asked to each participant. The spelling accuracy and information transfer rate with and without statistical test are presented as well as examples of event related potentials.

The aim of this paper is to present the latest software and hardware improvements of a device aiming to assess hand rehabilitation in hemiparetic people. The proposed system can help the patients with neuromuscular diseases to train and evaluate their grip/pinch force control. The two external devices helping to train and assess grip and pinch control have been adapted from a former system, improvements being performed in terms of a new wireless subsystem, sensorial system and new software adapted to the newest PC operating systems. The new software proposes different degrees of difficulty in planned tasks aiming to provide a better assessment of the voluntary exerted grip and pinch at the impaired hand level.

This paper aims to present a new hardware component and software interface for a Grip Force Tracking System. During the rehabilitation process after e.g. a stroke any user needs a confirmation of his/her the treatment effectiveness. The Grip Force Tracking System (GFTS) is a system that helps the upper limb rehabilitative process and provide also a record of the improvements on a daily basis. The former GFTS has been only used under old versions of PC software operating systems (e.g. windows XP) and without any possibility to wireless collect relevant data. This new proposed GFTS system, which uses only the pinch and grip sensorial devices from the former GFTS system, has new facilities to operate under new operating systems, provides a new LabVIEW designed interface and wirelessly connects to a PC/laptop. This final design will be tested in a clinical environment aiming to help the patients with neuromuscular diseases to evaluate and train their grip force control.

Functional Electrical Stimulation is a rehabilitative technique aiming to induce controlled muscle contractions by means of small charge electrical pulses provided to the nerve suppling the targeted muscle. FES-based standing-up, standing and sitting-down exercises in some paraplegic patients are thought to help in preventing osteoporosis, improving movement at lower limb joints, improving digestion, respiration and urinary drainage, and much more helps the user in performing transfer motions as wheel chair-toilet, wheel chair-bed, and reaching various needed objects on shelves higher than their wheel-chair level. Any of these FES-based exercise phases has to be properly controlled in order to ensure a safe and comfortable movement. This paper presents a new fuzzy controller aiming to support sitting-down in paraplegia by controlling the quadriceps muscles and/or hamstrings muscles of the user by means of electrical stimulation. Its effectiveness has been tested in simulation, and compared with other clinically tested controllers when fed with real clinical tests data.

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) aims to induce programmed exercises in paralyzed limbs of people who suffered a stroke, in order to improve their rehabilitation process. Nowadays, surface pre-gelled transcutaneous electrodes are used to provide electrical pulses to the nerves which induce contractions to the targeted muscles. This paper presents a new type of electrodes which are embedded in knitted textiles which are easy to wear and to produce the same required muscles contractions. Their effectiveness has been clinically tested and the results show a good compliance with the patient's needs.

This paper deals with some research outcomes in the field of FESB 13 in the control group). The patients in the IHRG group showed a slight increase of average motor gain than the control group, assessed with Fugl-Meyer Assessment and Box and Blocks test.

This paper deals with the neuroprostheses set-up and their applications in stroke rehabilitation while using new manufactured knitted electrodes. The techniques to induce contraction to paralysed muscles in order that the upper limbs or lower limbs of stroke patients may perform functional movements, is called Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES). The muscles contraction algorithms are implemented with usual FES neurostimulators that are currently in use into the rehabilitation clinics. Final conclusions are outlined while comparing the FES-based procedures with current existing gelled electrodes and the new manufactured knitted electrodes.

This publication presents a novel device for BCI based stroke rehabilitation, using two feedback modalities: visually, via an avatar showing the desired movements in the user’s first perspective; and via electrical stimulation of the relevant muscles. Three different kinds of movements can be trained: wrist dorsiflexion, elbow flexion and knee extension. The patient has to imagine the selected motor movements. Feedback is presented online by the device if the BCI detects the correct imagination. Results of two patients are presented showing improvements in motor control for both of them.