Prototype for motor disability created

• April 25, 2024

With the purpose of contributing to improve the quality of life of patients with motor disability of the upper limbs of the human body, researchers from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) are working on the development of a robotic prototype called Shoulder rudder .

This allows the rehabilitation of shoulders, arms, elbows and wrists, due to its capacity to perform movements of flexion and extension with constant mechanical speeds and resistances, controllable and monitored.

The technological development is in charge of the students of the Higher School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ESIME), Azcapotzalco Unit, Pedro Betanzos Luna, Benjamín Rangel Orozco, Miguel Ángel Funes Lora and Rodrigo Maldonado Echegoyea, who with the advice of the professor and researcher of the aforementioned staff, Manuel Faraón Carbajal Romero, will be titled as robotics engineers with the manufacture of the device.

The developers of the technology pointed out that there are currently mechanical devices in Mexico that make rehabilitation of the patients, because they can not be adapted to the specific needs of each of them, in addition to the rehabilitation it has a standard size, it is fixed and it prevents adjustments to personalize the therapies, while the one designed in the Polytechnic adapts to the size and needs of each patient and that affects a more efficient rehabilitation.

In favor of therapy

They explained that there are different therapeutic modalities to improve the motor disability , among which the Electrotherapy , Hydrotherapy , Cryotherapy , Fluid therapy Y Mechanotherapy .

In this regard, Betanzos Luna indicated: "The global function of the prototype is to promote the increase in the flexibility of the articulation, development and strength of the upper limbs, especially the shoulders, improving the coordination of the limb."

It allows obtaining and processing data regarding the evolution of the patient with respect to muscle tone obtained during the process of rehabilitation , which will serve for the appropriate clinical assessment ".

He specified that from the robotics and automation is intended to facilitate the work of therapists, optimize the rehabilitation time of people with motor disability , contribute to the development of technology in the country and, as a consequence, reduce costs in rehabilitation systems.

Betanzos Luna indicated that the anthropometric measurements of Mexican patients were taken into account to design the device, since the devices currently used to provide therapy They are designed with Anglo-Saxon measures.

The diameter of the Shoulder rudder it is automatically adjusted according to the needs of the patients - standing or in a wheelchair - and in this way the therapist becomes only a guide to perform the therapies.
 

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