While we've got robotic assistants that give aid to our
ankles,
arms,
upper bodies,
muscles, and
legs (just to name a
few), researchers at the University of California, Irvine are offering up yet another solution to assist stroke victims regain functionality in their hands. Sure, the
Cyberhand and modified
P5 glove have already been down this road before, but UCI's Hand-Wrist Assisting Robotic Device (cleverly-dubbed HOWARD) is a purely medical device that was constructed to "help people regain strength and normal use of affected hands long after a stroke." Considering that the first three months after a stroke are when the most "spontaneous improvement" occurs, the device is set into a lineup of scheduled therapy sessions which help victims regain motion, feeling, and grasping abilities of their hands. Additionally, HOWARD requires patients to move at least one-tenth of an inch before the assisting kicks in, which purportedly helps them "remember the feeling" of making motions on their own. Currently, 13 participants have been through HOWARD therapy, and all of them saw 10 to 20-percent improvements in various grasping tests, and while we've no idea when these contraptions will sneak into hospital wards, the team is already hard at work developing a smaller sibling with a bit more software options than the existing rendition.
[Via
Slashdot]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
omegamerc @ Feb 20th 2007 1:01AM
Hurray! I shall no longer have to fear peeing onto my walls ever again!
Brennan @ Feb 20th 2007 1:29AM
with great HOWARD, comes great grasping victory.Period.
Brennan @ Feb 20th 2007 1:33AM
(Young Anakin Skywalker)
.....it's working, IT'S WORKING!!!!......
Rob @ Feb 20th 2007 9:21AM
Glad someone does more than smoke pot at UCI (as I did).
Tabfugnic @ Feb 20th 2007 10:41AM
Wow I read that headline completely wrong... i got rid of grasp and replaced it with stroke... Tab you gotta get your mind out of the gutter.
cj dunkin @ Feb 20th 2007 1:47PM
in regard to a stroke, where is the injury? is it in the arm? is it in the hand? keep guessing. how could this device possibly address the damage caused by the stroke???
patricia @ Oct 2nd 2007 5:24PM
I have been researching everywhere for a friend who has had a stroke and is right side paralyzed. Does anyone know of devices (I know they are out there) that will aid/help in regaining lost feeling and control of the body? I have heard of brain devices that do help these people. Anyone know of anything?
Thanks so much, Patricia