This week marked my second week at RNEL. I continued to work with Lily as we moved onto a new project. At the beginning of the week, we worked with special insoles from a company called Moticon. These insoles have sensors throughout them and they’re designed to show where the user’s weight and center of balance are when they’re standing or doing a motion. The insoles are powered by small batteries in the bottom, and they’re designed to fit into shoes. After a recording session, the computer software is able to give a balance, gait, static, and jumping report if applicable. Our task was to set up the new insoles and compare their accuracy with a machine that does a similar and more in-depth job, the NeuroCom Balance Master. This is a large machine that patients will stand in while the force plates under their feet give feedback to the computer. The NeuroCom work is a project of a grad student named Bailey. She gave us a quick rundown of the basic way to run it so we could compare its data with the findings of the insoles.
After we finished testing the two, we were instructed to attempt to get some data from the OptiTrack cameras while Bailey checked the Moticon and NeuroCom recordings. So, we attached the markers to my legs, along with wired electrodes to record the different nerves firing in my muscles when I walked.
This is me with the Delsys electrodes on.
This is the model of my walk on the Motive software.Thankfully the cameras we had set up last week were able to see all twenty markers on almost the entire track. They were unable to see the hip markers towards both ends of the track, but the three new cameras should be here this upcoming week so they’ll be able to fix that problem. After the recording, we came across another issue. To open the model in the OpenSim program, we have to export it as a c3d file and go through Matlab. However, we were unable to get the file to be read. We showed the errors to a couple of people and nobody could see what was wrong. Eventually, we decided to email the company and ask how they import their files.
We spent Wednesday hooking up the new wireless Delsys system. This system consists of wireless electrodes that can be placed on the body. As you can see in the earlier picture, the wired sensors are quite a hassle to walk with. Luckily we were able to get this system up and running with the help of Bailey and a prospective grad student named Paige. Thursday was spent trying to sync the Delsys system with the OptiTrack system. The Delsys system comes with a trigger module that is meant to be the master switch that can start and stop the trials. Unfortunately, we were only able to get it to control the Delsys system. We spent the day switching around input and output cables and reading manuals to try to understand what the problem was. Finally, we found that the OptiTrack system was only putting out a pulse of about 4.7V and the trigger module needs a pulse of at least 5V. We are currently working on using an NI-DAQ to fix this issue.
Friday we worked on getting a recording on the Motive, Delsys, and Moticon softwares. We once again attached the 20 markers to my legs and then the seven wireless sensors. But the real question was how to use the insoles. The issue was, the sensors were men’s size 11 and I’m a women’s size 5. Luckily, we were able to fashion a pair of sandals with some velcro strips and tape. They may not have been the prettiest or most functional, but they got the job done for the time being. We then attached additional force sensors on the insoles. This day was just a day of testing every possible system to make sure it worked. Since we couldn’t sync the Motive and Delsys system, I just had to stomp my foot at the beginning and end of the trial. This was so that we could manually sync the two systems because the Delsys system could see the electrical activity of the stomp and the Motive system would see the physical action. It’s not ideal, but it’s a way for us to look at the data side by side until we can actually sync the systems.
These are the Delsys sensors, the Motive markers, and the oh so fashionable sandals.
Over the weekend I went with my host family to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. I haven’t been to a zoo in a long time and it was a lot of fun! I was able to pet some stingrays in the aquarium which I had never done before. This last week was filled with exciting new tests and equipment and I can’t wait to see what my last week is going to consist of!
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