Using a Robotic Neck Brace for Movement Training of the Head–Neck

Abstract

Coordinated head-neck movement is a challenge for patients with neurological disorders, such as cerebral palsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neck collars are commonly used to stabilize the head-neck in these patients. These collars are mostly rigid and uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time. We have developed a robotic neck brace to assist head-neck motion. In this letter, we focus on using the robotic neck brace for training of the head-neck motion using forces applied on the head. A force controller is implemented to deliver a moment to correct the head motion in an `assist-as-needed' fashion. A human study was designed to assess the performance of the robotic neck brace with the force controller. Ten young healthy adults participated in the experiment. They were asked to perform a lateral bending motion in the coronal plane of the head-neck with and without the assistance of the brace. The motions were conducted under two conditions: i) with visual feedback, ii) with visual and force feedback. We found that the rotational movement errors were significantly reduced (p<; 0.05) during training with the force field when compared to visual feedback alone. As expected, this change was not retained during post-training. We conclude that the force controller is able to provide the desirable force assistance to help coordinate the head motion.