I spent the summer creating a virtual environment that could be integrated for use with our exoskeleton arms. I did so using an open source graphics platform called Coin3D. The code I have written can be found in the Visual Studio Projects folder on the main VR computer. This is located in My Documents -> Visual Studio 2008 in Levi’s account. Developers wishing to create games using this environment or add to the code I have already written can skip straight to “The simulation.” However, the other sections contain information that may be relevant to anyone wishing to modify the existing code.

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This is an advanced topics course in Biologically Inspired Neurobotics and Behavioral Robotics (BINBR). The focus is on the development of relevant tools, methods, and design of such systems. The course will develop a theoretical framework for major issues in BINBR. The principles, design, and practice of behavior-based autonomous robotic architectures through a survey of these systems will be given. Relevant biological and psychological models of behavior, knowledge building and learning in autonomous robots, reactive versus cognitive, mind and machine, modular perception, robot colonies, and future trends in robot intelligence will be covered. Programming intellect, such as reinforcement learning and self-organizing algorithms, and mathematical models of mammalian neurons will be covered. Prereq: perm. Graduate standing or instructor permission. This course is offered for the first time at the University of Idaho.

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The goal of the lower limb exoskeleton is to assist soldiers to carry their heavy loads in various terrains. The lower limb exoskeleton aims to reduce stress and fatigue on the body of the soldiers. The development of the lower limb exoskeleton will be lightweight, low powered, and wearable. The design concept will look at the human interface with the exoskeleton. The exoskeleton must react to the human interface quickly using several sensors to indicate where in the structure energy must be stored or released.

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Clinical applications of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in stroke rehabilitation provide both therapeutic and functional benefits. Therapeutic applications include upper and lower limb motor relearning and reduction of poststroke shoulder pain. There is growing evidence that NMES, especially those approaches that incorporate task-specific strategies, is effective in facilitating upper and lower limb motor relearning. There is also strong evidence that NMES reduces poststroke shoulder subluxation and pain. Functional applications include upper and lower limb neuroprostheses. Lower limb neuroprostheses in the form of peroneal nerve stimulators is effective in enhancing the gait speed of stroke survivors with foot-drop. The development of hand neuroprostheses is in its infancy and must await additional fundamental and technical advances before reaching clinical viabi-lity. The limitations of available systems and future developments are discussed.

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Powered orthosis is a special class of gait assist device that employs a mechanical or electromechanical actuator to enhance movement of hip, knee, or ankle articulations. Pneu-matic artificial muscle (PAM) has been suggested as a pneumatic actuator because its performance is simi-lar to biological muscle.The electromyography (EMG) signal interpretation is the most popular and simplest method to establish the patient voluntary control of the orthosis.However, this technique is not suitable for patients presenting neurological lesions causing absence or very low quality of EMG signal. For those cases, an alternative control strategy should be provided.The aim of the present study is to develop a gait assistance orthosis for lower limb powered by PAMs controlled by a voluntary activation method based on the angular behavior of hip joint. In the present study, an orthosis that has been molded in a patient was employed and, by taking her anthropometric parameters and movement constraints, the adaptation of the existing orthosis to the powered orthosis was planned.A control system was devised allowing voluntary cont-rol of a powered orthosis suitable for patients presenting neurological lesions causing absence or very low quality of EMG signal.A pilot clinical study was reported where a patient, victim of poliovirus, suc-cessfully tested a hip orthosis especially modified for the gait test evaluation in the parallel bar sys-tem. The hip orthosis design and the control circuitry parameters were able to be set to provide satisfactory and comfortable use of the orthosis during the gait cycle.

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