MAROKO133 Hot ai: Robotic exoskeleton uncovers sensory deficits that only 1% of clinicians

📌 MAROKO133 Hot ai: Robotic exoskeleton uncovers sensory deficits that only 1% of

A new study is using robotics to expose a hidden barrier in stroke recovery: the loss of the body’s internal sense of movement.

This sensory ability, called proprioception, is rarely tested in clinics, despite being a crucial factor that determines whether survivors can regain functional independence or not.

 Now, a team of researchers at the University of Delaware (UD) is offering a way to identify these sensory deficits even when patients cannot move their impaired arm.

At the center of their work is a robotic exoskeleton that tracks motion with high precision.

Helping them probe this challenge is Don Lewis, who knows firsthand how unpredictable stroke recovery can be.

A decade ago, Lewis woke up unable to move his left side.

The 55-year-old had suffered a stroke in his sleep, discovered only when a neighbor noticed his truck hadn’t moved in days. Months of therapy helped him regain use of his left leg, but his left arm remains paralyzed.

Hidden sensory losses

Lewis is now contributing to UD’s work on proprioception, the brain’s ability to sense limb position and movement without looking.

“To simplify the concept, in class, I tell my undergraduates to close their eyes and touch their nose; if people can’t do that, it means they likely have impaired proprioception,” said Jennifer Semrau, associate professor of kinesiology and applied physiology.

Along with her doctoral candidate, Joanna Hoh, Semrau suggests clinicians can uncover sensory deficits without requiring movement from the affected arm, making assessments far more accessible.

Robot-assisted insights

Inside the lab, Lewis sits in a KINARM robotic exoskeleton that maps upper-limb movement.

The system allows the team to isolate sensory issues from motor ones, which has remained a challenge in stroke science.

“We’re trying to determine the lowest level someone can detect their arm moving,” Semrau said.

Healthy people can sense as little as half a centimeter of motion. Post-stroke, that sensitivity varies widely.

“Some can’t tell their arm was moved 10 centimeters, and that could be the difference between touching a hot stove or a knife in the kitchen,” Semrau said.

Strokes disrupt the signals between the brain and muscle receptors.

“When you move, the receptors lengthen or shorten, and if the information isn’t getting from the brain to those muscle receptors, you can’t properly coordinate movement,” she said.

And crucially, proprioception loss doesn’t necessarily affect pain or touch.

“Pain is part of the somatosensory system… Every person is a fingerprint,” Semrau said.

Rewriting rehab thinking

For Hoh, the research fills a blind spot she noticed as a clinician.

“We often think about movement through motor function,” she said. “I had a blind spot to the sensory system.”

Her dissertation examines how sensory deficits shape real-world recovery.

“In one of our studies, we found that just 1 percent of clinicians assess proprioception in people with stroke,” Semrau said. “Without sensory recovery, a person will not gain full recovery of function.”

Hoh and Semrau hope their work pushes rehabilitation toward personalized testing and therapy.

“The onus is on clinicians and researchers to ensure they’re testing for sensory deficits,” Hoh said.

Semrau added, “Understanding the connection between motor and sensory impairments… is key to better targeting therapies.”

The study appears in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: Eight unusual buildings from around the world that stand

Buildings aren’t always straight lines, glass walls, and sensible shapes. Sometimes, architects go a little wild, and the results are unforgettable. Around the world, you’ll find giant fish-shaped offices, circular skyscrapers, twisted houses, and even abandoned “UFOs” that look like they dropped out of the sky.

These eight buildings stand out because they’re strange, bold, and impossible to ignore. They may not follow the usual rules, but that’s exactly what makes them fun to explore.

1. Department of Fisheries – India

Shaped unmistakably like a giant silver fish, Hyderabad’s National Fisheries Development Board headquarters is one of world’s most literal pieces of mimetic architecture. Its shimmering metal scales, circular “eyes,” and curved fins make it resemble something straight out of an oversized aquarium.

Completed in 2012, the building is regularly featured on global lists of unusual architecture. While it houses a perfectly ordinary government office, its exterior celebrates the country’s fisheries sector with delightful, on-the-nose symbolism. Few official buildings anywhere in the world look quite this unapologetically eccentric.

2. Sanzhi UFO houses – Taiwan

The Sanzhi UFO Houses were a short-lived resort project made up of colorful, pod-shaped units that looked like a colony of landed flying saucers along Taiwan’s northern coast. Construction began in 1978 but stopped a few years later due to financial and structural issues, leaving the eerie, sci-fi-like pods abandoned for decades.

Their unusual retro-futuristic curves and ghost-town atmosphere made them internationally famous. The site was fully demolished by 2010, but the images and urban myth aura surrounding the development live on as some of Asia’s most iconic architectural oddities.

3. Guangzhou Circle – China

Guangzhou Circle is a 138-meter circular skyscraper that rises like a giant jade disc beside the Pearl River. Designed by Joseph di Pasquale and completed in 2013, the building’s symbolic form references ancient Chinese cosmology and Guangzhou’s trading heritage. Its bronze-tinted façade and dramatic central void make it visually unlike any neighboring tower.

It is often described by the BBC and ArchDaily as one of China’s most distinctive modern buildings, and while sometimes promoted as the “world’s tallest circular skyscraper,” a more accurate description is that it is one of the tallest and most prominent circular high-rises ever constructed.

4. Nakagin Capsule Tower – Japan

Completed in 1972, the Nakagin Capsule Tower was one of the most recognizable creations of Japan’s Metabolist movement. Its tiny prefabricated capsules, each containing a compact living or working pod with a signature round window were meant to be replaceable like components of a machine.

Although the capsules were never swapped as planned, the tower became a cult architectural icon praised by institutions such as MoMA and The Economist. In 2022, the building was dismantled, with many capsules preserved by museums and collectors. Even in its absence, it remains one of the most influential experiments in modular design.

5. Crooked House or Krzywy Domek – Poland

Krzywy Domek, or the Crooked House, looks like a fairytale cottage that has melted under the sun. Completed in 2004, its warped walls, wavy rooflines, and cartoonish proportions were inspired by the drawings of Polish illustrator Jan Marcin Szancer.

Despite its playful appearance, it functions as a standard commercial building within Sopot’s shopping district. Thanks to its optical-illusion exterior that appears to bend reality, the building qualifies for something straight out of a fever dream. It’s a whimsical reminder that architecture doesn’t always have to take itself too seriously.

6. Sluishuis – Netherlands

Completed in 2022 by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and Barcode Architects, Sluishuis is a dramatic residential complex that appears to float on Amsterdam’s IJ Lake. Its signature feature is a giant carved-out void that lets boats pass underneath, creating the effect of a massive block with a slice removed.

The stepped terraces, reflective aluminum cladding, and water-integrated walkways make it visually dynamic from every angle. Sluishuis stands out for blending sustainability with sculptural form. It’s part building, part gateway, part living waterfront sculpture.

7. Batumi Tower – Georgia