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  4. Real-time actuation of a dielectric elastomer actuator neuroprosthesis for facial paralysis
 
research article

Real-time actuation of a dielectric elastomer actuator neuroprosthesis for facial paralysis

Konstantinidi, Stefania Maria Aliki  
•
Imholz, Carlotta
•
Martinez, Thomas Guillaume  
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June 21, 2023
Smart Materials in Medicine

Facial paralysis is a highly burdening condition, resulting in a patient's inability to move his mimic musculature on one or both sides of his face. This condition compromises the patient's communication and facial expressions, and thus dramatically reduces his quality of life. The current treatment for chronic facial paralysis relies on a complex reconstructive surgery. This publication proposes a novel, less invasive approach for dynamic facial reanimation. The use of a smart material, namely a Dielectric Elastomer Actuator (DEA) is proposed for facial motion restoration, thus avoiding the traditional two-stage free muscle transfer procedure and allowing for a faster recovery of the patient. DEAs are a type of electroactive polymers, showing promising properties similar to natural muscles such as the fact that they are soft, lightweight and allow for large displacements. As a result, a study of the facial muscles and neural interfaces, notably the ones responsible for mouth movement, was performed, in order to implement a realistic setup. In this paper, a non-invasive neural interface based on myoelectric signal is used in order to establish a real-time control of the actuator. Visible motion of a skin model is produced in real time, by synchronizing the actuator to the activity of a healthy muscle, with a maximal delay of 108 ms resulting from the signal processing and a delay of less than 30 ms related to the actuation of the DEA. This shows that the usage of DEA combined with a neural interface presents a promising approach for treatment of facial paralysis.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.smaim.2023.06.003
Author(s)
Konstantinidi, Stefania Maria Aliki  
Imholz, Carlotta
Martinez, Thomas Guillaume  
Benouhiba, Amine  
Walter, Armando Matthieu  
Civet, Yoan René Cyrille  
Lindenblatt, Nicole
Perriard, Yves  
Date Issued

2023-06-21

Published in
Smart Materials in Medicine
Volume

5

Issue

(2024)

Start page

15

End page

23

Subjects

Facial paralysis

•

Neuroprosthesis

•

Dielectric elastomer actuators

•

Artificial muscles

•

Smart materials

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LAI  
CAM  
Available on Infoscience
July 4, 2023
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/198824
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