It has been reported that over 3 million individuals live with upper limb amputation worldwide. Losing a hand drastically reduces the individual's quality of life. Fortunately, there are several prosthetic solutions available in the market that try to restore some of the missing hand's functions and characteristics. This paper presents a review on three of the main components of a typical transradial myoelectric prosthesis that can be found in the market. The goal was to provide the reader with an overview of commercially available anthropomorphic myoelectric prosthetic hands with high degrees of freedom, pattern-recognition-based microcontrollers and sEMG sensors used for prosthetic control.

Systems based on Brain Computer Interface (BCI) have been developed from the past three decades for assisting locked-in state patients. Researchers across the globe are developing new techniques to increase the BCI accuracy. In 1924 Dr. Hans Berger recorded the first EEG signal. The number of experimental measurements of brain activity has been done using human control commands. The main function of BCI is to convert and transmit human intentions into appropriate motion commands for the wheelchairs, robots, devices, and so forth. BCI allows improving the quality of life of disabled patients and letting them interact with their environment. Since the BCI signals are non-stationary, the main challenges in the non-invasive BCI system are to accurately detect and classify the signals. This paper reviews the State of Art of BCI and techniques used for feature extraction and classification using electroencephalogram (EEG) and highlights the need of adaptation concept.

Brain–machine interfaces combining visual, auditory, and tactile feedback have been previously used to generate embodiment experiences during spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation. It is not known if adding temperature to these modalities can result in discomfort with embodiment experiences. Here, comfort levels with the embodiment experiences were investigated in an intervention that required a chronic pain SCI patient to generate lower limb motor imagery commands in an immersive environment combining visual (virtual reality -VR), auditory, tactile, and thermal feedback. Assessments were made pre-/ post-, throughout the intervention (Weeks 0–5), and at 7 weeks follow up. Overall, high levels of embodiment in the adapted three-domain scale of embodiment were found throughout the sessions. No significant adverse effects of VR were reported. Although sessions induced only a modest reduction in pain levels, an overall reduction occurred in all pain scales (Faces, Intensity, and Verbal) at follow up. A high degree of comfort in the comfort scale for the thermal-tactile sleeve, in both the thermal and tactile feedback components of the sleeve was reported. This study supports the feasibility of combining multimodal stimulation involving visual (VR), auditory, tactile, and thermal feedback to generate embodiment experiences in neurorehabilitation programs.

The growth in the prevalence of dementias is associated with a phenomenon that challenges the 21st century, population aging. Dementias require physical and mental effort on the part of caregivers, making it difficult to promote controlled and active care. This review aims to explore the usability and integration of wearable devices designed to measure the daily activities of elderly people with dementia. A survey was carried out in the following databases: LILACS, Science Direct and PubMed, between 2018 and 2024 and the methodologies as well as the selection criteria are briefly described. A total of 27 articles were included in the review that met the inclusion criteria and answered the research question. As the main conclusions, the various monitoring measurements and interaction aspects are critically important, demonstrating their significant contributions to controlled, adequate and active monitoring, despite the incomplete compliance with the key aspects which could guarantee solutions economically accessible to institutions or other organizations through the application of the design requirements. Future research should not only focus on the development wearable devices that follow the essential requirements but also on further studying the needs and adversities that elderly people with dementia face as a pillar for the development of a feasible device.

The health of older people is receiving special attention and dedication nowadays, with the aim of increasing their general wellbeing and quality of life. Studies into different aspects of the care of the elderly have found that emphasis should be given to solving problems related to bathing in different situations and environments. In particular, it is important to develop new assistive technologies to streamline and ease the burden of a caregiver’s daily tasks. Generally-speaking, in the case of bedridden patients, bathing is typically carried out manually by a caregiver, using towels, sponges, and a water basin. Nevertheless, this apparently simple task needs some precautions in order to avoid the risk of microbial infections, falls and other injuries. With that in mind, this paper presents the design of a portable washing system, called Bath-Ambience, which enables bedridden patients to be bathed efficiently without having to be moved from their position. This portable system can be installed in different situations, both in a domestic setting, and in specialized institutions, and allows the caregiver to perform the bathing tasks without compromising health and safety, thereby making it possible to offer a comfortable and hygienic procedure to patients, improving their quality of life. This paper presents the design of the portable Bath-Ambience washing system, which provides efficient assistance for bathing bedridden patients without moving them to another place. This system is mainly dedicated for integration a smart home application in to allow bathing everywhere.

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) that integrate virtual reality with tactile feedback are increasingly relevant for neurorehabilitation in spinal cord injury (SCI). In our previous case study employing a BCI-based virtual reality neurorehabilitation protocol, a patient with complete T4 SCI experienced reduced pain and emergence of non-spastic lower limb movements after 10 sessions. However, it is still unclear whether these effects can be sustained, enhanced, and replicated, as well as the neural mechanisms that underlie them. The present report outlines the outcomes of extending the previous protocol with 24 more sessions (14 months, in total). Clinical, behavioral, and neurophysiological data were analyzed. The protocol maintained or reduced pain levels, increased self-reported quality of life, and was frequently associated with the appearance of non-spastic lower limb movements when the patient was engaged and not experiencing stressful events. Neural activity analysis revealed that changes in pain were encoded in the theta frequency band by the left frontal electrode F3. Examination of the lower limbs revealed alternating movements resembling a gait pattern. These results suggest that sustained use of this BCI protocol leads to enhanced quality of life, reduced and stable pain levels, and may result in the emergence of rhythmic patterns of lower limb muscle activity reminiscent of gait.