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Alex Mazzotta

Mechanical Engineering Student (Undergrad), Northeastern University

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Virtual Interface Robotic Ankle & Balance Trainer

Robotic ankle rehab device interfaced with virtual reality for large patient population ranging from stroke patients to orthopedic injuries.

Alex Mazzotta

Mechanical Engineering Student (Undergrad), Northeastern University

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$160

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About

Research

Myself and 4 of my fellow students at Northeastern University have begun research for developing an ankle rehabilitation device that will offer robotic movement in two degrees of freedom and diagnostic capabilities. This device will provide rehabilitation services for patients ranging from stroke victims who need to regain motor control to athletes who sprained their ankle and recovery is much quicker. Throughout the rehab, the device will provide active strength and balance feedback for adjusting and optimizing treatment regiments.

In addition, the device will be linked with a virtual reality interface that engages users to increase desire to succeed. By using immersive environments that correlate to the training exercises, the virtual reality will incorporate previously monotonous and unmotivating exercises and create a stronger incentive to repeat exercises and increase the rate of recovery.

Methods of applying force and torque to the foot plate are still being researched but we will utilize force/torque and pressure sensors to measure the abilities of a patient in real-time. Motion will be in two degrees of freedom, offering plantarflexion/dorsiflexion and inversion/eversion. There will be a stable mode where balance abilities of the patient are diagnosed and trained, and a dynamic mode that offers strength training and exercises to increase the range of motion of the ankle.

A previous design group from Northeastern developed a similar device. We have learned from their design and are planning to create a brand new device that will hopefully eliminate issues that occured with the previous one.

We have named the device the vi-RABT (Virtually Interfaced Robotic Ankle & Balance Trainer).

Background

I work with 4 other students. Our names are Alex Mazzotta, Nate Lavins, Ally Bugliari, Paul Doucot and JP Valenzuela. We are all pusuing bachelor degrees in mechanical engineering and several of us are also pursuing minors in biomechanical engineering. We are advised by Professor Constantinos Mavroidis and Amir Farjadian of Northeastern University. This project is for our senior capstone design course.