Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

In the recent past, human movement measurement systems have significantly evolved from conventional manual tools, to sophisticated real-time imaging systems, and recently, systems embedded with wireless capabilities. Although the technology has made great strides in providing better analytical tools for research purposes these tools still remain isolated from the clinics due to exorbitant costs, operational complexity requiring specific expertise and, the time to process the data in order to derive meaningful information. While there is a need to disseminate research findings to the clinics there is an equally pressing need to translate the findings into simple practical solutions that are affordable and that can be implemented in the clinics. Furthermore, a majority of the technology advances cater to grasping (prehensile) kinematics. The global objective of this research program is to develop simple portable instrumented solutions to measure grasping kinetics that can eventually be used in the clinics for the prognosis and diagnosis of hand-related impairments. The specific aims of the research program are: (1) Design sensor configurations to measure prehensile kinetics and configurations to house the sensing elements; (2) Develop mathematical algorithms to characterize the measured output into relevant grip parameters; (3) Transform the designs and methods into clinically relevant, affordable, user-friendly hand assessment tools. The potential of the research program is two-fold: (a) it will be beneficial to the clinical community because of its bench-to-bedside approach to minimize the existing gap between clinical evaluation and research measurement methods; (b) from a prognosis and diagnosis standpoint it will cater to a wide range of hand-related deficits (e.g. stroke, neuropathy, tendon and joint problems). From an engineering perspective, the proposed research program adds a creative engineering element and provides another avenue for clinically relevant measurement tools in upper limb biomechanics.