Abstract
In this paper, the design and control of a robotic device intended to stabilize the head and neck of a trauma patient during transport are presented. When transporting a patient who has suffered a traumatic head injury, the first action performed by paramedics is typically to restrain and stabilize the head and cervical spine of a patient. The proposed device would drastically reduce the time required to perform this action while also freeing a first responder to perform other possibly lifesaving actions. The applications for robotic casualty extraction are additionally explored. The design and construction are described, followed by control simulations demonstrating the improved behavior of the chosen controller paradigm, linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC). Finally, experimental validation is presented, followed by future work and directions for the research.
Highlights
Traumatic injury is a leading cause of death for people in the United States under the age of 65, responsible for approximately 79,000 yearly deaths in Americans that are 45 years old and younger [1].Per the U.S Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, when a first responder encounters a person who may have suffered a traumatic injury, the accepted standard operating procedure is to bring the cervical spine into the neutral position, fit a stabilization unit to the patient [2]
This paper presents a novel robotic head stabilization system, along with possible applications, a discussion on the design process and a demonstration of the system’s capabilities
When the system injected with a sinusoidal disturbance, linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) superior again demonstrates removingperformance the effects of the injectedthe disturbance with a nearly sevenfold reduction superior removing effects ofsignal, the injected disturbance signal, withina integral nearly error overreduction the duration of the simulation
Summary
Traumatic injury is a leading cause of death for people in the United States under the age of 65, responsible for approximately 79,000 yearly deaths in Americans that are 45 years old and younger [1]. The prescribed methods for post-trauma stabilization include a two-fold strategy of fitting a cervical collar to the patient’s neck, followed by immobilizing the head of the patient utilizing some form of head supporting framework. Research has shown that cranio-thoracic stabilization methods such as sandbags or stabilization blocks upon a stretcher can nearly completely stabilize the cervical spine, without the use of a cervical collar [7]. This forms the basis for the necessity and function of the proposed head stabilization device.
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