We quantitatively measured the smiles of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD-C) using a wearable interface device during animal-assisted activities (AAA) for 7 months, and compared the results with a control of the same age. The participant was a 10-year-old boy with ASD, and a normal healthy boy of the same age was the control. They voluntarily participated in this study. Neither child had difficulty putting on the wearable device. They kept putting on the device comfortably through the entire experiment (duration of a session was about 30-40 min). This study was approved by the Ethical Committee based on the rules established by the Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Human Service Center. The behavior of the participants during AAA was video-recorded and coded by the medical examiner (ME). In both groups, the smiles recognized by the ME corresponded with the computer-detected smiles. In both groups, positive social behaviors increased when the smiles increased. Also, negative social behaviors decreased when the smiles increased in the (ASD-C). It is suggested that by leading the (ASD-C) into a social environment that may cause smiling, the child's social positive behaviors may be facilitated and his social negative behaviors may be decreased.

Humans convey emotions through different ways. Gait is one of them. Here we propose to use gait data to highlight features that characterize emotions. Gait analysis study usually focuses on stance phase, frequency, footstep length.Here the study is based on the joint angles obtained from inverse kinematics computation from the 3D motion-capture data using a combination of degrees of freedom (DOF) out of a 34DOF human body model obtained from inverse kinematics of markers 3D position. The candidates are four professional actors, and five emotional states are simulated: Neutral, Joy, Anger, Sadness, and Fear. The paper presents first a psychological approach which results are used to propose numerical approaches. The first study provides psychological results on motion perception and the possibility of emotion recognition from gait by 32 observers. Then, the motion data is studied using a feature vector approach to verify the numerical identifiability of the emotions. Finally each motion is tested against a database of reference motions to identify the conveyed emotion. Using the first and second study results, we utilize a 6DOF model then a 12DOF model. The experimental results show that by using the gait characteristics it is possible to characterize each emotion with good accuracy for intra-subject data-base. For inter-subject database results show that recognition is more prone to error, suggesting strong inter-personal differences in emotional features.

Gait disturbance is commonly associated with stroke, which is a serious neurological disease. With current technology, various exoskeletons have been developed to provide therapy, leading to many studies evaluating the use of such exoskeletons as an intervention tool. Although these studies report improvements in patients who had undergone robotic intervention, they are usually reported with clinical assessment, which are unable to characterize how muscle activations change in patients after robotic intervention. We believe that muscle activations can provide an objective view on gait performance of patients. To quantify improvement of lateral symmetry before and after robotic intervention, muscle synergy analysis with Non-Negative Matrix Factorization was used to evaluate patients' EMG data. Eight stroke patients in their acute phase were evaluated before and after a course of robotic intervention with the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL), lasting over 3 weeks. We found a significant increase in similarity between lateral synergies of patients after robotic intervention. This is associated with significant improvements in gait measures like walking speed, step cadence, stance duration percentage of gait cycle. Clinical assessments [Functional Independence Measure-Locomotion (FIM-Locomotion), FIM-Motor (General), and Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Lower Extremity (FMA-LE)] showed significant improvements as well. Our study shows that muscle synergy analysis can be a good tool to quantify the change in neuromuscular coordination of lateral symmetry during walking in stroke patients.

In this research we introduce a wearable sensory system for motion intention estimation and control of exoskeleton robot. The system comprises wearable inertial motion sensors and shoe-embedded force sensors. The system utilizes an instrumented cane as a part of the interface between the user and the robot. The cane reflects the motion of upper limbs, and is used in terms of human inter-limb synergies. The developed control system provides assisted motion in coherence with the motion of other unassisted limbs. The system utilizes the instrumented cane together with body worn sensors, and provides assistance for start, stop and continuous walking. We verified the function of the proposed method and the developed wearable system through gait trials on treadmill and on ground. The achievement contributes to finding an intuitive and feasible interface between human and robot through wearable gait sensors for practical use of assistive technology. It also contributes to the technology for cognitively assisted locomotion, which helps the locomotion of physically challenged people.

During locomotion, a top-down organization has been previously demonstrated with the head as a stabilized platform and gaze anticipating the horizontal direction of the trajectory. However, the quantitative assessment of the anticipatory sequence from gaze to trajectory and body segments has not been documented. The present paper provides a detailed investigation into the spatial and temporal anticipatory relationships among the direction of gaze and body segments during locomotion. Participants had to walk along several mentally simulated complex trajectories, without any visual cues indicating the trajectory to follow. The trajectory shapes were presented to the participants on a sheet of paper. Our study includes an analysis of the relationships between horizontal gaze anticipatory behavior direction and the upcoming changes in the trajectory. Our findings confirm the following: 1) The hierarchical ordered organization of gaze and body segment orientations during complex trajectories and free locomotion. Gaze direction anticipates the head orientation, and head orientation anticipates reorientation of the other body segments. 2) The influence of the curvature of the trajectory and constraints of the tasks on the temporal and spatial relationships between gaze and the body segments: Increased curvature resulted in increased time and spatial anticipation. 3) A different sequence of gaze movements at inflection points where gaze plans a much later segment of the trajectory.

Context/Objective: The hybrid assistive limb (HAL) is a wearable exoskeleton robot that assists walking and lower limb movements via real-time actuator control. Our aim was to clarify the safety and feasibility of using the HAL robotic suit for rehabilitation in patients with severe thoracic myelopathy due to ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (T-OPLL). Design: Uncontrolled case series; pre-and post-intervention measurement. Setting: In-patient rehabilitation unit. Intervention: HAL training was provided in 60-minuts session, 2-3 sessions per week, for a total of 10 sessions. HAL training was initiated on average 27.5 days post-surgery. Patients: Eight patients (four males and four females; mean age, 60.9 ± 10.2 years) with severe myelopathy, who had undergone posterior decompression with instrumented fusion, were enrolled. Outcome Measures: Gait speed, step length and cadence were measured along a 10-m walkway every session. The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor score (lower extremities) and Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury (WISCI) II were also evaluated at baseline and after 10 sessions. The Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score was calculated over time after surgery. Results: All participants completed the 10 training sessions, with no serious adverse effect noted. Gait speed, step length and cadence improved over time. Both the WISCI-II and ASIA motor (lower extremities) scores improved from baseline after 10 sessions. The JOA score improved over time post-surgery. Conclusion: HAL training can be feasibly initiated in the early postoperative period, without severe adverse events in patients, with T-OPLL-related severe gait disturbance.

Our case report indicates that HAL training is feasible and effective for complete C4 quadriplegia in chronic SCI.

No abstract