Parkinson's Disease affects the nervous system and causes uncontrollable movements such as tremors, rigid muscles, and difficulty in balance and coordination. While the first signs of Parkinson's creep on gradually, the symptoms generally worsen overtime and affect how the brain functions, causing dementia-like symptoms and depression.
A team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) performed their research on Parkinson's, focusing on learning hand kinematics using a multimodal sensor glove. The results from this glove highlighted the difference in level of hand stability, flexibility and muscle strength in patients and test control participants, supporting the findings from clinical observations.
For the multimodal sensor glove to properly capture and analyse signals on hand bending angles, muscle strength and tremors, it required flexible printed circuits (FPC) that could move with the glove and transmit information from the sensors on the fingers to the circuit board interface positioned on the back of the hand.
The FPC was achieved and patterned using the LPKF ProtoLaser U4 UV laser system for mechanical support and interconnection of electronic components on the board. This allowed the research team to successfully track, analyse and learn hand kinematics from a group of 40 test subjects comprising patients with Parkinson's Disease and test control subjects.
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ProtoLaser S4 Structure, engrave and cut in a single operation |
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ProtoLaser R4 Laser ablation with practically no heat transfer |
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ProtoLaser U4 Compact laser system producing fine, precise structures |
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ProtoLaser ST High performance, table top compact laser for any lab |