{"id":46300,"date":"2017-08-22T14:33:58","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T18:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=46300"},"modified":"2017-08-25T11:28:32","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T15:28:32","slug":"brock-using-canadas-first-wristbot-in-ergonomics-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/08\/brock-using-canadas-first-wristbot-in-ergonomics-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock using Canada\u2019s first \u2018wristbot\u2019 in neuromechanics and ergonomics lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

An international partnership has led to Brock becoming the first Canadian institution to use an innovative \u2018wristbot\u2019 created abroad in its research.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The robot, built by the\u00a0<\/span>Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences<\/span><\/a> research team at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), now has a home in Brock\u2019s developing neuromechanics and ergonomics lab, led by kinesiologist Michael Holmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brock University\u2019s newest Canada Research Chair<\/span><\/a>, Holmes investigates how the brain and nervous system interact with the mechanics of hand, arm, shoulder and neck muscles during tasks performed in the workplace.<\/span><\/p>\n

He heard about the wristbot and its potential use for his research, and made a trip to the lab in Genova, Italy, to learn more about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was there he met <\/span>Edwin Avila<\/span><\/a>, an electronic engineer from Aguascalientes, Mexico, who is part of the IIT research team.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the visit, Avila realized their respective research interests were closely related, although each with a different focus.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Edwin

Edwin Avila, a visiting PhD candidate from the Italian Institute of Technology, wears reference markers for a motion capture system during his time in the neuromechanics and ergonomics lab at Brock.<\/p><\/div>\n

In hopes of learning more about Holmes\u2019 research, Avila opted to spend six months working alongside the Brock team to gain a different perspective on his own work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told (Holmes) I could come to Brock to set-up and configure the wristbot, show researchers here how to use it, and start running a couple of experiments to study muscular strategies,\u201d says Avila, who has been working at the University since early April and leaves to return to Italy at the end of September.<\/span><\/p>\n

The wristbot, a robotic device resembling a joystick, allows Holmes\u2019 team to examine how the forearm muscles control the hand, especially when encountering resistance and sudden, unexpected disturbances.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like when you\u2019re holding a power tool and you have to control feedback from the tool in all directions to counteract the imbalance,\u201d explains Holmes. \u201cThis requires muscular control and using such a device will allow us to better understand how fatigue, pain and\/or injury is developed in the workplace and can influence performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The research has applications for pilots who have to control joysticks, as well as surgeons, dentists and others who regularly hold tools for their jobs. The device can also be used for rehabilitation and basic science research questions around arm and shoulder biomechanics and motor control.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the device can help people perform specific wrist movements. Over time, that assistance can be reduced as the individual regains proper function. Holmes says the wristbot offers \u201cnew and emerging research possibilities into \u2018robotics for rehab,\u2019 an exciting field that can improve the lives of individuals who may have lost hand function or suffer from neurological impairments to the upper extremity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The wristbot is one of<\/span> several pieces of equipment Holmes purchased earlier this year<\/span><\/a> with funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to create Brock\u2019s<\/span> Neuromechanics and Ergonomics Lab<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The experiments Holmes\u2019 research team and Avila are conducting are part of Avila\u2019s PhD work in Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences at IIT, where he is in his third year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Avila is researching how the brain creates a \u2018pathway\u2019 or a \u2018map\u2019 of how muscles need to move to compensate for sudden, unexpected forces that cause the hand to move unexpectedly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using the robotic device, volunteer research participants move their hand in a repetitive motion hundreds of times in a particular direction. Then, Avila and his colleagues introduce a force field that blocks the movement or makes it more challenging to complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we study are the mechanisms in the nervous system that identify if the participants have to push or not to push against the force field and how quickly they adapt to the new movement,\u201d Avila says.<\/span><\/p>\n

The team is using electromyography, a technique that measures muscle activity through non-invasive electrodes placed on the skin. \u00a0This technology provides insight into how hard muscles are working, what muscles are used to perform the movement and how fatigued the muscles get with repetition. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many occupations require workers to perform the same repetitive tasks for an entire shift, even an entire career. \u201cThe results from this work will shed light on how much time it takes for workers to adjust to changes in their tools and how fatigue impacts muscle control, all of which are factors that could potentially cause injury on the job,\u201d explains Holmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Avila says he\u2019s excited to be working with a multi-disciplinary team.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an engineer and I\u2019m here in the kinesiology department,\u201d he notes. \u201cThe openness and exchange of ideas is very interesting: you have different points of view, from different perspectives, depending on the background of each person.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is where the best solutions can come from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An international partnership has led to Brock becoming the first Canadian institution to use an innovative \u2018wristbot\u2019 created abroad in its research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":46302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,7,3319,4052,188,1,4,5],"tags":[5688,423,996,5711,5505,5712,4702,5713],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46304,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46300\/revisions\/46304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}