How I Control The Robot Arm

After almost three years of training with the dot and exoskeleton, we started training with a robotic arm in a virtual environment for some time. Then, we transitioned to the real thing I always wanted: a real robot arm. That was the main reason I entered the clinical trial. The speech decoding was very cool, but the robot arm was more appealing to my ears.

I always wished to be able to do my things, feed, drink, and do basic stuff for myself, and so I saw the opportunity with the robot arm coming my way.

It was AMAZING! I started doing basic tasks, reaching out, to see how well my control was, with five, I don’t know how to define it, imaginary /attempted movements, let’s stick with that. I have been saying “imagine” gestures, but I move my nerves behind the scenes.

The robot arm can be used in different ways. It can move straightforwardly, like when someone straightens their arm. It can also go into a downward and lateral position and be rotated accordingly.

To go to the right side. I attempt to move my right thumb.
To go to the left side. I attempt to move my left thumb.
To go backward, I attempt to move my head back and forth.
I attempt to squeeze/tighten my left leg muscle to go forward.
To go upwards, I attempt to move my lips.
To go downwards, I attempt to move my tongue.

Making the transition means entering rotation and grasping mode. I have to try to wiggle my two middle fingers simultaneously. When the switch happens, you can see the big screen, where a rectangular shape is drawn. It switches from red to blue. The red color means it can move, and the blue color means it can rotate and grab objects.

To rotate clockwise, I attempt to squeeze/tighten the muscles in my left leg.
To rotate counter-clockwise, I attempt to move my head
To move forward toward an object while in the switch mode, I attempt to move my tongue
To move away from an object while in the switch mode, I attempt to move my lips.
I attempt to move my right thumb to close the fingers and grab the object while in the switch state.
To open the fingers and release the object, I attempt to move my left thumb while in the switch state.

The same steps apply to taking this in a lateral position, although it is slightly different. It doesn’t rotate, but it bends. Imagine bending your hand at the elbow. Well, the robot arm does, sort of, like that. It turns like a curve, just like bending your elbow.

To bend it towards me while on the switch state, I attempt to squeeze/tighten my left leg muscles
I attempt to move my head to bend it away from me while in the switch state.
To go forward toward the object while in the switch state, I attempt to move my tongue.
To move away from the object while in the switch state, I attempt to move my lips.
I attempt to move my right thumb to close the fingers and grab the object while in the switch state.
To open the fingers and release the object, I attempt to move my left thumb while in the switch state.

Exoeskeleton

by panchoderancho | Robotics

Exoeskeleton

I’ve been a little too busy doing other things and haven’t updated my website for several months now; that’s terrible!

I will start by introducing my robotic arm—well, not mine. It’s the robot I work with the clinical trial team at the office. It’s pretty incredible! Let me go back to the beginning.

When we first started, it wasn’t anything physical or something that looked even close to a robot arm. It was just a “dot” on the screen, a big monitor with a dot floating around it, that was all! Well, I only had to control the dot with my imagination. I thought it would be a piece of cake, my goodness! It was hard as heck! It took numerous attempts, but we did it, thank God! I managed to make it work as intended.

Such a dot represented a computer’s cursor, so I played with it, moving it around the screen. I started with four basic, imaginative movements: I moved my head left to make it move to the left. I moved my head to the right to make it move to the right, and I moved my arm up and down to make it move up and down.

I did not keep any of those videos to show you, sorry!

After training with the dot control for some time, we moved on to a different project. It was called a planar robotic manipulandum for upper limb assessment and movement assistance. It was a device on a table with a crystal clear plastic base full of cables and electronics. The device connected to my arm at the wrist, and I could move it through a horizontal workspace while measuring the applied forces. They also had an assistive glove called the exoskeleton that assisted with opening and closing my fingers.

I did keep videos of the Planar Table and Exoskeleton.

Then, we went back to play with cursor control but tried different imaging techniques. Sometimes, I felt a little silly, but I tried to do everything I was told. I was trying to move my left thumb to go left, my right thumb to right, my head upwards to go upwards, and my toes downward. As time passed, we learned a lot of new stuff and strategies.