Upper Limb Movement Estimation and Function Evaluation of the Shoulder Girdle by Multi-Sensing Flexible Sensor Wear

To extend the coverage of people able to receive high-quality rehabilitation, remote rehabilitation is required in addition to traditional face-to-face rehabilitation. Although remote rehabilitation using video conferencing systems has been realized to date, communication through physical sensations such as detailed patient motoring information and manual instructions from the therapist has not yet been realized. Therefore, the ultimate goal of this study was to develop multimodal wearable sensor system to support remote rehabilitation with a somatosensory system. To this end, we conducted a basic study of sensing technology in multimodal wear. Multiple strain sensors were attached to the shoulder to digitize the detailed behavior of the shoulder girdle. It was confirmed that the movement of the scapula can be acquired by this strain sensor. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the combination of strain sensors and an inertia measurement unit can be applied for the motion estimation of the entire upper limb.