Biomedical subjects

Alessandro Tognetti

Publications and source records attributed to Alessandro Tognetti.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Wearable kinesthetic system for capturing and classifying upper limb gesture in post-stroke rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring body kinematics has fundamental relevance in several biological and technical disciplines. In particular the possibility to exactly know the posture may furnish a main aid in rehabilitation topics. In the present work an innovative and unobtrusive garment able to detect the posture and the movement of the upper limb has been introduced, with particular care to its application in post stroke rehabilitation field by describing the integration of the prototype in a healthcare service. METHODS: This paper deals with the design, the development and implementation of a sensing garment, from the characterization of innovative comfortable and diffuse sensors we used to the methodologies employed to gather information on the posture and movement which derive from the entire garments. Several new algorithms devoted to the signal acquisition, the treatment and posture and gesture reconstruction are introduced and tested. RESULTS: Data obtained by means of the sensing garment are analyzed and compared with the ones recorded using a traditional movement tracking system. CONCLUSION: The main results treated in this work are summarized and remarked. The system was compared with a commercial movement tracking system (a set of electrogoniometers) and it performed the same accuracy in detecting upper limb postures and movements.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Strain sensing fabric for hand posture and gesture monitoring.

In this paper, we report on a new technology used to implement strain sensors to be integrated in usual garments. A particular conductive mixture based on commercial products is realized and directly spread over a piece of fabric, which shows, after the treatment, piezoresistive properties, i.e., a change in resistance when it is strained. This property is exploited to realize sensorized garments such as gloves, leotards, and seat covers capable of reconstructing and monitoring body shape, posture, and gesture. In general, this technology is a good candidate for adherent wearable systems with excellent mechanical coupling with body surface. Here, we mainly focused on a sensorized glove able to detect posture and movements of the fingers. It could be used in several fields of application. We report on experimental results of a sensorized glove used as movements recorder for rehabilitation therapies and medicine. Furthermore, we describe a dedicated methodology used to read the output sensors which allowed to avoid using metallic wires for the connections. The price to be paid for all these advantages is a nonlinear electric response of the fabric sensor and a too long settling time, that in principle, make these sensors not suitable for real-time applications. Here we propose a hardware and computational solution to overcome this limitation.

Clothing↗

PubMed2005

Electroactive fabrics for distributed, comfortable and interactive systems.

Monitoring body kinematics has fundamental relevance in several biological and technical disciplines. In particular the possibility to know the posture exactly may furnish a main aid in rehabilitation topics. In the present work a collection of innovative and unobtrusive garments able to detect the posture and the movement of the human body are introduced. This paper deals with the design, the development and the realization of sensing garments, from the characterization of innovative comfortable and spreadable sensors to the methodologies employed to gather information on the posture and movement. Several new algorithms devoted to the device operation are presented and tested. Data derived from the sensing garment are analyzed and compared with the data derived from a traditional movement tracking system.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗