Restoring Activities of Daily Living Using an EEG/EOG-Controlled Semiautonomous and Mobile Whole-Arm Exoskeleton in Chronic Stroke

• Published in: IEEE systems journal Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 2314 - 2321
• Main Authors: Nann, Marius, Cordella, Francesca, Trigili, Emilio, Lauretti, Clemente, Bravi, Marco, Miccinilli, Sandra, Catalan, Jose M., Badesa, Francisco J., Crea, Simona, Bressi, Federica, Garcia-Aracil, Nicolas, Vitiello, Nicola, Zollo, Loredana, Soekadar, Surjo R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.06.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Activities of daily living (ADL); Brain; brain-computer interface (BCI); brain-machine interface (BMI); chronic stroke; Diuretics; Drinking; Electroencephalography; electroencephalography (EEG); Electrooculography; electrooculography (EOG); Exoskeletons; Grasping; Hand (anatomy); hemiparesis; Paralysis; rehabilitation robotics; Robot control; Robots; Safety; sensorimotor rhythms; shared control; Shoulder; Side effects; Stroke; Survival; Task analysis
• ISSN: 1932-8184; 1937-9234
• DOI: 10.1109/JSYST.2020.3021485

Stroke survivors with chronic paralysis often have difficulties to perform various activities of daily living (ADLs), such as preparing a meal or eating and drinking independently. Recently, it was shown that a brain/neural hand exoskeleton can restore hand and finger function, but many stroke survivors suffer from motor deficits affecting their whole upper limb. Therefore, novel hybrid electroencephalography/electrooculography (EEG/EOG)-based brain/neural control paradigms were developed for guiding a whole-arm exoskeleton. It was unclear, however, whether hemiplegic stroke survivors are able to reliably use such brain/neural-controlled device. Here, we tested feasibility, safety, and user-friendliness of EEG/EOG-based brain/neural robotic control across five hemiplegic stroke survivors engaging in a drinking task that consisted of several subtasks (e.g., reaching, grasping, manipulating, and drinking). Reliability was assumed when at least 75% of subtasks were initialized within 3 s. Fluent control was assumed if average "time to initialize" each subtask ranged below 3 s. System's safety and user-friendliness were rated using Likert-scales. All chronic stroke patients were able to operate the system reliably and fluently. No undesired side effects were reported. Four participants rated the system as very user-friendly. These results show that chronic stroke survivors are capable of using an EEG/EOG-controlled semiautonomous whole-arm exoskeleton restoring ADLs.