Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial

Pathological tremors can often be debilitating to activities of daily living and significantly affect the quality of life. Such tremulous movements are commonly observed in wrist flexion-extension (FE). To suppress this tremor we present a wearable robot (WR) with a customized mechanical metamateria...

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Main Authors: Suhas Raghavendra Kulkarni, Dino Accoto, Domenico Campolo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2024-01-01
Series:Wearable Technologies
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Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S263171762400015X/type/journal_article
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author Suhas Raghavendra Kulkarni
Dino Accoto
Domenico Campolo
author_facet Suhas Raghavendra Kulkarni
Dino Accoto
Domenico Campolo
author_sort Suhas Raghavendra Kulkarni
collection DOAJ
description Pathological tremors can often be debilitating to activities of daily living and significantly affect the quality of life. Such tremulous movements are commonly observed in wrist flexion-extension (FE). To suppress this tremor we present a wearable robot (WR) with a customized mechanical metamaterial (MM) as the physical human-robot interface (pHRI). The MM is optimized to conform to the user’s wrist posture and follow the hand’s Cartesian trajectory. This is done to minimize the shear between the pHRI and the user’s skin and consequently improve wearability. This WR is then used to effect a viscous tremor suppression using the velocity of the user’s wrist FE. We present a model for the interaction between the WR and the user with which we develop the viscous damping approach for tremor. This is then evaluated in simulation and using a dedicated test bed. This tremor suppression approach demonstrates an attenuation of 20–30 dB at various tremulous frequencies resulting in significantly lower tremor amplitudes due to the viscous damping.
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issn 2631-7176
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series Wearable Technologies
spelling doaj-art-acb510c78c1d4135a145abdfb13f0ccc2025-08-20T01:56:10ZengCambridge University PressWearable Technologies2631-71762024-01-01510.1017/wtc.2024.15Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterialSuhas Raghavendra Kulkarni0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9839-249XDino Accoto1Domenico Campolo2Robotics Research Centre, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NTU, SingaporeDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Ghent and Aalst Campuses, KU Leuven, Ghent, BelgiumRobotics Research Centre, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NTU, SingaporePathological tremors can often be debilitating to activities of daily living and significantly affect the quality of life. Such tremulous movements are commonly observed in wrist flexion-extension (FE). To suppress this tremor we present a wearable robot (WR) with a customized mechanical metamaterial (MM) as the physical human-robot interface (pHRI). The MM is optimized to conform to the user’s wrist posture and follow the hand’s Cartesian trajectory. This is done to minimize the shear between the pHRI and the user’s skin and consequently improve wearability. This WR is then used to effect a viscous tremor suppression using the velocity of the user’s wrist FE. We present a model for the interaction between the WR and the user with which we develop the viscous damping approach for tremor. This is then evaluated in simulation and using a dedicated test bed. This tremor suppression approach demonstrates an attenuation of 20–30 dB at various tremulous frequencies resulting in significantly lower tremor amplitudes due to the viscous damping.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S263171762400015X/type/journal_articlemetamaterialwearable robottremor suppressionviscous damping
spellingShingle Suhas Raghavendra Kulkarni
Dino Accoto
Domenico Campolo
Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial
Wearable Technologies
metamaterial
wearable robot
tremor suppression
viscous damping
title Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial
title_full Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial
title_fullStr Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial
title_full_unstemmed Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial
title_short Viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial
title_sort viscous damping of tremor using a wearable robot with an optimized mechanical metamaterial
topic metamaterial
wearable robot
tremor suppression
viscous damping
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S263171762400015X/type/journal_article
work_keys_str_mv AT suhasraghavendrakulkarni viscousdampingoftremorusingawearablerobotwithanoptimizedmechanicalmetamaterial
AT dinoaccoto viscousdampingoftremorusingawearablerobotwithanoptimizedmechanicalmetamaterial
AT domenicocampolo viscousdampingoftremorusingawearablerobotwithanoptimizedmechanicalmetamaterial