An Introduction

We of the KICK [Keep It Complicated Knucklehead] Institute present our innovative design:
a’RoBiC
(a Robotic Bi-Cycle)
[click above for diagram and further descriptions]

Production of assistive technology has to originate with the needs of the consumer [22]. In the case of stroke or spinal cord injury (SCI) persons needing rehabilitation, the consumer typically is reliant upon insurance to cover costs [2]. Consumers are forced to await scientific breakthroughs to lead to the development of apparatus, which then must be proven as effective therapy for insurance coverage. Due to the need for lengthy research and testing, critical time for recovery will be lost for many future victims who could be benefiting from therapy if it were already widely available. However, because mass marketing and a large consumer base reduce the costs of equipment only after expensive prototypes have been shown to be effective [11], the KICK Institute has worked backwards to develop a design for use by the general population. This would create a financial base to support adapted designs of the model for stroke and SCI persons. This design for a’RoBiC is being drafted not by a grant through the NIDRR RERC program but through a private company [9]. However, the private company, created as a non-profit due to the nature of the design, is working with consultants familiar with NIDRR requests. The NIDRR expresses the need that while “rehabilitation engineering is important, the most important issue is getting people with disabilities to start doing some form of exercise” [23]. Profits from mass manufacturing will benefit those who actually need the equipment most: stroke and spinal cord injured persons. Because our equipment provides novelty exercise combined with a virtual experience, it will have large appeal to a broad consumer base.

1. (Bi-pedalism) Current stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation attempts to recover either upper arm mobility or lower limb mobility with a focus on one or the other but not both. We sought to design machinery that would enable aerobic exercise, essential to overall health, [24] with equipment that would provide bone density and muscle strength necessary for gains in mobility. The equipment also aids in the recovery of fine motor skills, through the use of upper limb exercises.

2. (Large Brain) Re-cortical organization is assisted by the incorporation of thought with movement. Although virtual reality has not yet been proven vital to greater gains, it is receiving attention as a possible "link” to addressing recovery at the molecular level [16].

3. (Language) Feedback is the necessary component to measure the accuracy of systems: biological, human systems, and mechanical, robotic systems. Inputs and outputs need closed loops to devise a more natural interface between humans and machines [20, 22]. With man and machine working together, one will make up for the shortcomings of the other but it is essential that one must be able to “read” the other as close to real time as possible for the two to work as one.