Improvement of WristHab (game console rehabilitation system) with EMG sensor

• Main Author: Ahmad Syafiq, Bin Noraldin
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2017
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26289/1/Ahmad%20Syafiq%20Bin%20Noraldin%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26289/

Stroke is one of the main causes that lead to permanent disability of human body. Eighty percent of stroke survivors will develop hemiparesis according to statistics from Stroke Association. Past-stroke patients who had a hemiparesis experience weakness on one side of their bodies which have difficulties in operating daily life activities. In order to help patients to improve their disabilities, a lot of tools and techniques have been developed to treat hand hemiparesis such as Music Glove hand therapy, EMG Controlled Exoskeleton and Virtual Reality therapy. These therapies can be categorized into home therapy and hospital therapy. There are many products available on the market to help hemiparesis patient, especially for home-based therapy system. However, most of it are too expensive, bulky, and complex which demotivated patients to keep doing their recovery process. These issues can be solved by developing a cost effective, portable and interactive homebased rehabilitation system. Besides, home-based rehabilitation system is much more comfortable and enjoyable for the patient. In this project, the therapy system will use the game-based concept to develop interest among patients. The developed hardware input module has an EMG sensor design which interfaced with Arduino to control object in the games and to diagnose the muscle activity of the patient. The hand muscle strength of patients shows significant improvement after conducting rehabilitation process by using the prototype. The test subjects were asked to do a repetition rehabilitation process which is 5 times, 10 times and 15 times. Then, a comparison of subject’s muscle strength has been conducted before and after rehabilitation process by using WristHab. The average muscle strength value of teenager’s subject measured before using a WristHab is 1.89 and after using a WristHab is 2.2. The average muscle strength value of adult’s subject measured before using a WristHab is 3.04 and after using a WristHab is 3.4. The average muscle strength value of elder’s subject measured before using a WristHab is 1.01 and after using a WristHab is 1.29. The developed prototype gives advantages to a user which is motivating, portable home-based rehabilitation and cost effective in order to improve their motor functionality.