Verification of additional merits of a bimanual-coordinated rehabilitation robot using near-infrared spectroscopic technology

Using our designed robot, previous work has confirmed that bimanual training induced greater oxygenated-hemoglobin concentration than unilateral-limb training. However, the inter-hemispheric asymmetry of oxygenated-hemoglobin concentration was not compared between the bimanual and unilateral-limb patterns. To confirm the merits of our designed robot based on cerebral hemoglobin activation, 18 healthy subjects performed bimanual and unilateral-limb tasks in active-resisted mode and active-assisted mode for the right and left control sides (determines from that which limb provides a larger force). Analyses of variance were performed to compare the laterality index (LI) of two hemispheres between the two control sides, and to compare oxygenated-hemoglobin concentration between the different training patterns. The difference of LI between the two control sides was distinct in unilateral-limb patterns (p = 0.029) but not obvious in bimanual patterns. As for the oxygenated-hemoglobin, active-resisted tasks induced a higher concentration than active-assisted tasks in the left control side (p = 0.048). Results demonstrated that the proposed bimanual training induced the functional integrity of two hemispheres, and the robot is favorable for improving bimanual movement-coordination function. Additionally, active-resisted tasks had a higher difficulty level than active-assisted task. Therefore, the robot has a potential for delivering strength enhancement training in bimanual patterns. Graphical Abstract