Biomechanical analysis of upper limb physiological tremor in prolonged micromanipulation tasks
Date6th May 2022
Time03:00 PM
Venue https://iitmadras.webex.com/iitmadras/j.php?MTID=ma2edfcf6528bc02d868296024bfc5f7f
PAST EVENT
Details
Tremor is defined as the involuntary, rhythmic and roughly sinusoidal oscillation of any body part. This can be primarily categorised into physiological tremor and pathological tremor. Physiological tremor is caused by the superimposition of mechanical reflexes and central neural oscillators. This type of tremor is associated with posture and movements, and very critical in micromanipulation task like microsurgery, teleoperation etc. There are different measuring modalities for quantitative and qualitative assessment of the tremor. The enhanced physiological tremor caused by muscle fatigue is studied at the muscular level non-invasively using the surface electromyogram (sEMG). The external movement can be monitored using mechanomyogram (MMG) techniques. sEMG is prone to electrical and motion artefacts that affect estimation accuracy. On the other hand, MMG readings are obtained after the action potential from the neuron causes the Ca2+release in the sarcoplasmic reticulum and consecutive contraction of muscles resulting in external movement. This gives rise to an electromechanical delay between sEMG and MMG recording. The shortcomings observed in the two techniques necessitate developing a stable system for physiological tremor detection. The proposed research aims to perform muscle fatigue induced physiological tremor assessment based on the physiological parameters. One of the important hypothesis proposed is that the volumetric changes in the muscles of upper extremity can be used as a measure of fatigue and hence can be used for tremor prediction. Theoretical modelling of upper extremity for musculoskeletal dynamics will be presented.
Speakers
Ms. P Poongavanam, ED18D010
Department of Engineering Design