Control system for an innovative multifunctional shoulder prosthesis

Authors:

Burov Gennady Nikolayevich, PhD in Technical sciences, head of Scientific direction, Albrecht Federal Scientific Centre of Rehabilitation of the Disabled, 50 Bestuzhevskaya Street, 195067 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, e-mail: zxzy@yandex.ru

Bolshakov Vladimir Alexandrovich, senior researcher of Design department, Albrecht Federal Scientific Centre of Rehabilitation of the Disabled, 50 Bestuzhevskaya Street, 195067 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, e-mail: pko09_903@mail.ru

Drobakha Alena Sergeevna, junior researcher, Albrecht Federal Scientific Centre of Rehabilitation of the Disabled, 50 Bestuzhevskaya Street, 195067 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, e-mail: drobaha-alena@mail.ru

Annotation:

Introduction. The technical solutions adopted in prosthetics should contribute to the creation of comfortable conditions for the patient and to ensure the compliance of the prosthetic and orthopedic device with its medical and social purpose. For patients with a high level of amputation, equipped with a shoulder prosthesis, the most important and at the same time difficult is the creation of a control system that ensures the implementation of the functions of the prosthesis, namely: rotation of the shoulder, flexion of the forearm, flexion and rotation of the artificial hand, as well as control of its grip. At the same time, it is necessary to determine the sources of control of these functions and assess the ability of the disabled person to use them to implement the given functionality of the shoulder prosthesis without switching in the natural mode.

Aim. The aim of this work is to increase the efficiency of prosthetic and orthopedic provision of patients with amputation defects within the shoulder by expanding their functionality by creating an innovative control system that implements the multifunctionality of the shoulder prosthesis.

Materials and methods. In order to restore the greatest number of degrees of mobility when creating a multifunctional shoulder prosthesis, which is quite simple and effective in control, it is necessary to assess the residual and compensatory capabilities of the disabled operator, which is a link in the biotechnical system “disabled person -technical means”. In this case, it is also required to identify the possibility of using all segments of the hand with their residual mobility as the controls for the prosthesis. An important role here is played by the practical implementation of information retrieval tools that provide the formation of various control systems for the multifunctional device of the shoulder prosthesis.

Results. The study of probable control structures, including the structures of open-loop control systems for the drives of the shoulder prosthesis, including bioelectric and contact (myotonic) control, has been carried out. And also a preliminary study of the structure of the closed positional control systems for the drives of the shoulder prosthesis was carried out.

Discussion. The improvement process in the field of upper limb prostheses is very slow. This is understandable. Compared with the solution of general technical problems, the situation changes dramatically when a researcher deals with a disabled person who lacks a part of his arm or, in the case of a shoulder, the arm is completely absent.
Existing shoulder prostheses have one or two functions of grasping and flexing the forearm. The innovation of such prostheses is carried out mainly by increasing the functionality of the artificial hand.
Since the complex set of the shoulder girdle together with the muscles of the chest, shoulder blades, back and periarticular muscles after amputation of the shoulder in the middle and lower third fully retains its functionality, its potential can be effectively used as control signals for control systems of bionic shoulder prostheses. However, it should be borne in mind that these movements require appropriate training and constant supportive training to eliminate the danger in an extreme situation to perform inappropriate action.

Conclusion. The study of the prospects for the construction of innovative shoulder prostheses showed that continuous control with feedback in position and effort allows to provide an actual sensation of the process of control of the shoulder prosthesis, helps to reduce the time for performing motor acts, thereby increasing the level of rehabilitation effect during prosthetics.

List of cited literature:

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