Design and Kinematic Evaluation of a Novel Joint-Specific Play Controller: Application for Wrist and Forearm Therapy

Joseph J. Crisco; Joel B. Schwartz; Bethany Wilcox; Laura Costa; Karen Kerman

doi:10.2522/ptj.20140344

Figures

Figure 1.

Play controller components consist of handle with malleable rod; wrist joint housing the potentiometer; forearm cuff of soft, breathable, self-adhesive matting material over a malleable fitting cuff; and the electronic housing.

Figure 2.

Three-dimensionally printed electronic housing (H1 and H2), control buttons (F), battery (A), and electronic boards (B, C, D and E) for the play controller.

Figure 3.

The remote control car shown here is purchased with a commercial controller that requires thumb motion to drive forward or backward. When direction is reversed quickly, the car can flip and continues driving. The steering is not controlled but rotates freely. The specially designed play controller replaces the commercial thumb controller, is readily custom fitted to the child, and drives the car forward and backward with wrist flexion and extension motions. The positions of wrist flexion and extension that trigger the car's change in direction is programmable for each individual child and is set by holding a button on the electronics enclosure.

Figure 4.

Bland-Altman plots for the difference in maximum flexion (A) and maximum extension (B) measurements between play controller and optical motion capture system. The x-axis represents the mean maximum flexion (A) and extension (B) measurements from the controller and the optical motion capture system. The y-axis represents the difference between maximum flexion (A) and extension (B) measurements from the controller and motion capture system. Negative y-axis values indicate that the controller underestimated the optical motion capture system values. Bias lines and 95% confidence limits are represented as dashed lines.