Sensitivity analysis of a novel five-degrees-of-freedom user command controller in people with spinal cord injury and non-injured for full upper extremity neuroprosthesis, wearable powered orthoses and prosthetics.

Abstract

Sensitivity analysis for a user command controller monitoring head position for artificial control of the proximal upper limb was performed. The controller was evaluated by having subjects complete target matching tasks manipulating a simulated on-screen hand representation to investigate the effects of target location and target speed on performance. Sixteen subjects took part in the study, 11 of whom had sustained cervical spinal cord injuries. The subjects were able to control the on-screen hand with overall low sensitivity of performance with the controller to target position in its five-degrees-of-freedom. The optimal speed was found to be a compromise between low speed and high accuracy but longer completion time and fast speed for short completion time with lower accuracy. The results demonstrated the robustness of the controller across a population of non-injured subjects and those with tetraplegia.