TREMOR
Tremor is the most common movement disorder and it is strongly increasing in incidence and prevalence with ageing. More than 65% of the population with upper limb tremor presents serious difficulties in performing activities of daily living (ADL). Tremor is not life-threatening, but it can be responsible for functional disability and social inconvenience. It is typically managed by means of drugs, surgery (thalamotomy), and deep brain stimulation, but treatments are not effective in approximately 25% of patients.
The main objective of the project is to validate, technically, functionally and clinically, the concept of mechanically suppressing tremor through selective Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) based on a (Brain-to-Computer Interaction) BCI-driven detection of involuntary (tremor) motor activity:
- The system will detect and monitor involuntary motor activity (tremor) through a multimodal BCI. The proposed BCI will combine CNS (Electroencephalography, EEG) and PNS (Electromyography, EMG) data with biomechanical data (Inertial Measurement Units, IMUs) in a sensor fusion approach. It will model and track tremor and voluntary motion.
- It will also include a multi-channel array FES system for selective stimulation of muscles for tremor suppression while reducing the influence on voluntary motion.
- For a potential commercial exploitation the embodiment must fit potential user expectations in terms of cosmetics, functionality and aesthetics.
TREMOR proposes a multimodal BCI in which the main goal is identifying, characterizing and tracking involuntary motor bioelectrical activity as a command to trigger a biomechanical suppression of tremor.
Project News
- Final Review Meeting
TREMOR Consortium will meet on 24th October in Brussels for the Final Review Meeting of the TREMOR Project. - IEEE 2011 Summer School on Neurorehabilitation
Summer School on Neurorehabilitation was held in Salamanca, Spain, Sept 18 - 23, 2011. The theme of the conference was "Emerging technologies" and the main topics: - How can emerging technologies help in medicine?
- Understanding rehabilitation robotics and its goals
Measurement session with patients.
Measurement session with patients in Hospital General, Valencia, July 2011.
Consortium
