Descripción del proyecto
Estudio del control neuromuscular de circuito cerrado para una mejor neurorrehabilitación
Las lesiones neurológicas incapacitan a millones de personas, cuya recuperación motora suele ser subóptima. El efecto de los equipos de neurorrehabilitación actuales está limitado por el desconocimiento de su interacción física con el cuerpo humano. El proyecto INTERACT, financiado con fondos europeos, se propone crear modelos a múltiples escalas de la interacción persona-máquina para desarrollar nuevos paradigmas de control de circuito cerrado. Los investigadores utilizarán la toma de registros y la modelización matemática para descodificar en alta resolución la actividad celular de las neuronas motoras en la médula espinal. Su objetivo es demostrar cómo se repara la disfunción motora al inducir cambios en blancos neuromusculares. Aprender a controlar los estímulos que rigen la función neuromuscular permitirá que los equipos de neurorrehabilitación se coadapten al cuerpo humano y promoverá el desarrollo de interfaces persona-máquina, desde neuroprótesis hasta extremidades robóticas y exoesqueletos.
Objetivo
Neurological injuries such as stroke leave millions of people disabled worldwide every year. For these individuals motor recovery is often suboptimal. The impact of current neurorehabilitation machines is hampered by limited knowledge of their physical interaction with the human. As we move, our body adapts positively to optimal stimuli; motor improvement after stoke is promoted via physical training with an appropriate afferent input to the nervous system and mechanical loads to muscles. Loss of appropriate stimuli leads to motor dysfunction.
Motor recovery requires positive neuromuscular adaptations to be steered over time. If neuro-modulative and orthotic machines could be controlled to generate optimal stimuli to the neuromuscular system, a new era in neurorehabilitation would begin.
This project creates multi-scale models of human-machine interaction for radically new closed-loop control paradigms. We will combine biosignal recording and numerical modeling to decode the cellular activity of motor neurons in the spinal cord with resulting musculoskeletal forces at a resolution not considered before. This will enable breakthroughs for tracking the spinal-musculoskeletal system across spatiotemporal scales: short-to-long term adaptation from cellular to organ scales. We will use these concepts to design new machine control schemes. With a focus on spinal cord electrical stimulation and mechatronic exosuits, we will demonstrate how motor dysfunction is repaired by inducing optimal changes in neuromuscular targets. The innovative aspect is that of gaining control of the stimuli that govern neuromuscular function over time. This will enable machines to co-adapt with the body; an achievement that will disrupt the development of man-machine interfaces from neuroprostheses, to robotic limbs, to exosuits.
INTERACT will answer fundamental questions in movement neuromechanics via novel principles of human-machine interaction with broad impact on bioengineering and robotics
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
7522 NB Enschede
Países Bajos