Browsing by Author "Davalli, A."
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Item Open Access A NEW ACTIVE SHOULDER PROSTHESIS: FROM THE DESIGN TO THE FIRST CLINICAL APPLICATION(2008) Gruppioni, E.; Chiossi, M.; Troncossi, M.; Cutti, A.G.; Davalli, A.; Parenti-Castelli, V.INAIL and DIEM prototyped a new externally-powered prosthetic shoulder developed for interscapulothoracic and first-proximal trans-humeral amputees. The articulation consist of two connected powered joints that allow the elevation of the upper arm in any vertical plane passing through the shoulder centre of rotation. The development of the mechanism is the result of a rigorous approach, which made it possible to systematically combine both the technical and the clinical aspects involved in the design of a prosthetic device. The prototype underwent laboratory tests needed to evaluate the mechanism’s performance (e.g. the maximum payload) and the electrical requirements (e.g. the current draining). Based also on the results retrieved from these tests, an on-board embedded controller was implemented. The electronic unit can control a prosthesis with up to five powered joints and can manage different control strategies, according to the amputees’ preferences. The prototype with the embedded control system has been recently integrated within the prosthesis, provided with hand, wrist and elbow, of a proximal trans-humeral amputee who firstly tested the new device. This paper provides an overview of the development of the actual prosthesis, reports the main patient’s feedback and outlines the future developments.Item Open Access A SIMPLIFIED CAD MODEL OF TRANS-RADIAL SOCKETS SUITABLE FOR SUBJECT ENERGY EXPENDITURE ASSESSMENT(2005) Cutti, Andrea G.; Casamenti, E.; Cappello, A.; Davalli, A.The measurement of the mechanical energy expenditure of a subject in accomplishing a given motor task has been reported as a valuable index to quantitatively assess his/her motor ability or pathology stage [1-3]. In order to compute this parameter applying inverse dynamics techniques [1], the subject’s joint kinematics during the motor task and the inertial parameters (i.e. the mass, centre of mass and inertia matrix) of his/her moving limbs must be known. While the joint kinematics can be measured in-vivo using a motion analysis system (e.g. an optoelectronic system), the inertial parameters of human limbs are usually retrieved from anthropometric tables [1]. When the subject acquired is an amputee fitted with an artificial limb the problem of determining the prosthesis inertial parameters therefore arises. Considering a trans-radial amputation levels, a prosthesis is composed by standardized parts (hand, battery, lamination ring and actuators), and the subject-specific inner and outer sockets: since the CAD models of these parts are usually unavailable their single and cumulative inertia parameters remain unknown. The aim of this work was therefore to propose two possible simplified CAD models for trans-radial prostheses and to identify among them which one leads to the best estimation of the mechanical energy expenditure during a flexion-extension of the elbow in the sagittal and horizontal plane and during a shoulder internal-external rotation. The models, of increasing complexity, take into account the sockets, battery and lamination ring.Item Open Access A VOICE-CONTROLLED PROSTHESIS: TEST OF A VOCABULARY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROTOTYPE(2008) Gruppioni, E.; Saldutto, B.G.; Cutti, A.G.; Mainardi, E.; Davalli, A.Current solutions for the control of active upper-limb prostheses are mostly based on EMG signals acquisition and processing and on electronic switches. Even though efficient for most clinical cases, these solutions can be unsatisfactorily for the control of prostheses with multiple joints. Voice-control can be a possible solution for these clinical cases. The aims of this work were therefore 1) to identify a non-redundant vocabulary for the voice-control of an active upper-limb prosthesis, by maximising the recognition performances of the voice controller VR-STAMP (Sensory Inc., Sunnyvale California), and 2) to integrate the VRSTAMP with a prosthesis controller. A non-redundant vocabulary was identified comprising 26 words. The vocabulary was tested on 16 subjects, reporting no statistically significant differences between words recognition. The median number of recognitions per word per subject was 10/10 with an interquartile distance of 1. For the development of the voicecontrolled prosthesis, a firmware for the VR-STAMP was firstly developed; then, the VRSTAMP was interfaced via serial-port with the prosthesis controller CLC2000 developed and commonly used by the INAIL Prostheses Centre.Item Open Access Teleassistance For Electronic Components In Rehabilitation Technology(1999) Davalli, A.; Sacchetti, R.; Ferrara, P.; Dietl, H.