The Physioflex
Physiotherapeutic Muscle Treatment Device
Working on the Physioflex allowed my group and I to demonstrate our creativity in engineering design. I also had the opportunity to further develop my circuit building and coding skills.
The task proposed was to create a wearable device that tracks data (input) & communicates (output) to a user. No guidelines. No constrictions. The only rule was that the device had to be made using any combination of Raspberry Pi sensors.
The goal was to promote creativity (since there was no preset customer specified) and to enhance technical skills such as coding and circuit building through working with Raspberry Pis. Building skills in aspects of the engineering design process such as generating & evaluating concepts were also highlighted.
While searching through the available sensors that we could use with a Raspberry Pi, we came across a muscle sensor. After some consideration, I pitched the idea of designing a device to motivate users with partial muscle paralysis to perform physiotherapeutic exercises on their own using engaging, specifically-designed games; in a similar vein to brain training apps like Lumosity or Elevate. Therefore, The Physioflex was born.
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Muscle contraction intensity is measured using a muscle sensor outfitted with gel electrodes
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Input from the sensor is processed using a Raspberry Pi and a Python program so we can measure if the user is performing an exercise or not
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A breadboard with an LED array was used to display user progress
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The exercise designed and demonstrated was a simple flexing of the wrist. The user would flex their wrist and hold the position until all the LEDs would light up, with the end goal of helping to restore wrist movement
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A non-functional tangible prototype was also developed using Autodesk Inventor where information from the sensor would be displayed to a screen in the form of a game instead of LEDs​
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The sensor-screen combination could be detached and connected to different sizes and shapes of fabric for use on different muscles in different areas of the body
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The relocation of the device on the user can be assisted by another if the user's paralysis is non-partial or if their paralysis inhibits them from doing so