Jessica Gantenbein


Last Name

Gantenbein

First Name

Jessica

ORCID

0000-0001-7764-7935

Organisational unit

03827 - Gassert, Roger / Gassert, Roger

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2020 - 20259
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Publications 1 - 9 of 9
  • Development of an Assistive Dynamic Arm Support for a User With Spinal Muscular Atrophy
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Gantenbein, Jessica; Weber, Micha; Gassert, Roger; et al. (2022)
    ICCHP-AAATE 2022 Open Access Compendium "Assistive Technology, Accessibility and (e)Inclusion"
    People affected by Spinal Muscular Atrophy typically suffer from decreased muscle strength in upper and lower limbs and face many challenges in accomplishing daily activities. This work presents the usercentered design, development, and long-term evaluation after two years of daily use of an assistive dynamic arm support for a specific user suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The personalized device provides active assistance to switch the user’s elbow between two functional positions and active or passive support of elbow flexion and extension sufficient to conduct activities of daily living such as eating, drinking, controlling the wheelchair or using computers or smartphones. The device was assessed at multiple time steps, whereas the device has shown to be robust with only minimal maintenance required. The user’s satisfaction, measured by the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology 2.0 score, was perceived as high (average score between 3.6 and 4.3, possible range 0 to 5) and the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale indicated that the dynamic arm support positively affected the independence, well-being, and quality of life of the user (average score between 0.85 and 1.5, possible range -3 to +3). This work underlines the benefits of a user-centered design approach and longterm evaluations in terms of usability and, consequently, device adoption of assistive devices, as well as the need for adaptability to the individual needs of different users with muscular weakness.
  • Feasibility of force myography for the direct control of an assistive robotic hand orthosis in non-impaired individuals
    Item type: Journal Article
    Gantenbein, Jessica; Ahmadizadeh, Chakaveh; Heeb, Oliver; et al. (2023)
    Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
    Background: Assistive robotic hand orthoses can support people with sensorimotor hand impairment in many activities of daily living and therefore help to regain independence. However, in order for the users to fully benefit from the functionalities of such devices, a safe and reliable way to detect their movement intention for device control is crucial. Gesture recognition based on force myography measuring volumetric changes in the muscles during contraction has been previously shown to be a viable and easy to implement strategy to control hand prostheses. Whether this approach could be efficiently applied to intuitively control an assistive robotic hand orthosis remains to be investigated. Methods: In this work, we assessed the feasibility of using force myography measured from the forearm to control a robotic hand orthosis worn on the hand ipsilateral to the measurement site. In ten neurologically-intact participants wearing a robotic hand orthosis, we collected data for four gestures trained in nine arm configurations, i.e., seven static positions and two dynamic movements, corresponding to typical activities of daily living conditions. In an offline analysis, we determined classification accuracies for two binary classifiers (one for opening and one for closing) and further assessed the impact of individual training arm configurations on the overall performance. Results: We achieved an overall classification accuracy of 92.9% (averaged over two binary classifiers, individual accuracies 95.5% and 90.3%, respectively) but found a large variation in performance between participants, ranging from 75.4 up to 100%. Averaged inference times per sample were measured below 0.15 ms. Further, we found that the number of training arm configurations could be reduced from nine to six without notably decreasing classification performance. Conclusion: The results of this work support the general feasibility of using force myography as an intuitive intention detection strategy for a robotic hand orthosis. Further, the findings also generated valuable insights into challenges and potential ways to overcome them in view of applying such technologies for assisting people with sensorimotor hand impairment during activities of daily living.
  • Intention Detection Strategies for Robotic Upper-Limb Orthoses: A Scoping Review Considering Usability, Daily Life Application, and User Evaluation
    Item type: Review Article
    Gantenbein, Jessica; Dittli, Jan; Meyer, Jan Thomas; et al. (2022)
    Frontiers in Neurorobotics
    Wearable robotic upper limb orthoses (ULO) are promising tools to assist or enhance the upper-limb function of their users. While the functionality of these devices has continuously increased, the robust and reliable detection of the user's intention to control the available degrees of freedom remains a major challenge and a barrier for acceptance. As the information interface between device and user, the intention detection strategy (IDS) has a crucial impact on the usability of the overall device. Yet, this aspect and the impact it has on the device usability is only rarely evaluated with respect to the context of use of ULO. A scoping literature review was conducted to identify non-invasive IDS applied to ULO that have been evaluated with human participants, with a specific focus on evaluation methods and findings related to functionality and usability and their appropriateness for specific contexts of use in daily life. A total of 93 studies were identified, describing 29 different IDS that are summarized and classified according to a four-level classification scheme. The predominant user input signal associated with the described IDS was electromyography (35.6%), followed by manual triggers such as buttons, touchscreens or joysticks (16.7%), as well as isometric force generated by residual movement in upper-limb segments (15.1%). We identify and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of IDS with respect to specific contexts of use and highlight a trade-off between performance and complexity in selecting an optimal IDS. Investigating evaluation practices to study the usability of IDS, the included studies revealed that, primarily, objective and quantitative usability attributes related to effectiveness or efficiency were assessed. Further, it underlined the lack of a systematic way to determine whether the usability of an IDS is sufficiently high to be appropriate for use in daily life applications. This work highlights the importance of a user- and application-specific selection and evaluation of non-invasive IDS for ULO. For technology developers in the field, it further provides recommendations on the selection process of IDS as well as to the design of corresponding evaluation protocols.
  • An Analysis of Intention Detection Strategies to Control Advanced Assistive Technologies at the CYBATHLON
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Gantenbein, Jessica; Meyer, Jan T.; Jäger, Lukas; et al. (2022)
    2022 International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)
    With the increasing range of functionalities of advanced assistive technologies (AAT), reliable control and initiation of the desired actions become increasingly challenging for users. In this work, we present an analysis of current practices, user preferences, and usability of AAT intention detection strategies based on a survey among participants with disabilities at the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition. We collected data from 35 respondents, using devices in various disciplines and levels of technology maturity. We found that conventional, direct inputs such as buttons and joysticks are used by the majority of AAT (71.4%) due to their simplicity and learnability. However, 22 respondents (62.8%) reported a desire for more natural control using muscle or non-invasive brain signals, and 37.1% even reported an openness to invasive strategies for potentially improved control. The usability of the used strategies in terms of the explored attributes (reliability, mental effort, required learning) was mainly perceived positively, whereas no significant difference was observed across intention detection strategies and device types. It can be assumed that the strategies used during the CYBATHLON realistically represent options to control an AAT in a dynamic, physically and mentally demanding environment. Thus, this work underlines the need for carefully considering user needs and preferences for the selection of intention detection strategies in a context of use outside the laboratory.
  • Applicability of intention detection strategies for robotic assistive technologies: From laboratory to real-world use
    Item type: Doctoral Thesis
    Gantenbein, Jessica (2023)
    Being able to perform daily tasks independently has an enormous impact on an individual's emotional and cognitive well-being, as well as their ability to engage in social life. Physical disabilities, e.g., due to injury, disease, or aging, can strongly limit this independence and, therefore, negatively impact the quality of life of the people affected. Hence, in order to enable these people to live a self-determined life and reduce their reliance on support from their family members, friends, or caregivers, assistive technologies have been developed. Assistive technologies aim to maintain or increase the functional capabilities of people with disabilities. For people with motor impairments specifically, conventionally used assistive technologies are, e.g., walking aids, wheelchairs, body-powered prostheses, passive orthoses, and adaptive clothing or eating devices. However, in order to provide more functions and, therefore, potentially offer a higher level of support, a trend towards developing robotic assistive technologies to complement the conventional ones has been observed. Yet, in order to be able to fully benefit from the support of such robotic assistive technologies, it is immensely important that the user can control the device with low effort and that it performs its actions reliably according to the user's intent. Accordingly, one of the most crucial aspects when developing such robotic assistive technologies is the selection of the intention detection strategy, i.e., the approach with which the user's motion intent is collected, interpreted, and transferred to the device. A wide range of such strategies has previously been introduced, ranging from simple push buttons to the most technologically advanced such as measuring and interpreting brain signals. Yet, among this wide range of options, it remains challenging to select the most suitable option for a given context of use, i.e., the user, the intended task, and the environment of use. An intention detection strategy that fails to meet the user's needs and has low usability will affect technology acceptance and will, consequently, not successfully transfer to real-world applications. This work aimed to explore the landscape of intention detection strategies to control robotic assistive technologies. Specifically, the suitability, i.e., the feasibility, functionality, and usability, of various such strategies for different contexts of use were investigated. To do so, the focus of the investigation was continuously shifted from an evaluation in the laboratory environment to an evaluation in a real-world application, i.e., in the user's homes. For the latter, the RELab tenoexo was used as a practical use case of a robotic assistive device. The RELab tenoexo is a robotic hand orthosis aiming to support grasp function for people with sensorimotor hand impairment, e.g., due to spinal cord injury. In order to be able to make an informed selection of possibly suitable intention detection strategies for the robotic hand orthosis, we first needed to take a step back and understand what kinds of intention detection strategies were previously presented for similar technologies. Therefore, we conducted a scoping literature review, including studies evaluating intention detection strategies for robotic upper-limb orthoses intended for (yet not necessarily tested in) daily life applications. The review, including 93 studies describing 29 different intention detection strategies, found that the predominantly used strategy was electromyography, followed by manual triggers such as buttons or touchscreens. It further found that the intention detection strategies were rarely extensively evaluated in real-life applications. A survey involving actual users of robotic assistive technologies at the CYBATHLON competition provided us additional insights into the kind of strategies used in a more daily-life-oriented context and their perceived usability. The survey showed that, with few exceptions, only manual triggers were used, presumably because they can detect the user's intent most reliably, which is of utmost importance in this highly competitive context. The insights gained from the scoping review and the survey then helped us to define requirements and select a set of possible intention detection strategies for our practical use case: a robotic hand orthosis. We implemented seven strategies that we deemed as possibly suitable for this application. However, after preliminary evaluation and discussions with multiple target users with spinal cord injury, the set was narrowed down to four strategies: a push button, voice control, a trigger by a shoulder shrug measured by an inertial measurement unit, and a strategy based on electromyography signals collected from the forearm. In a subsequent study involving five users with spinal cord injury, we then extensively evaluated and compared these four strategies in terms of performance and usability in controlled laboratory conditions, as well as in disturbed conditions aiming to mimic a daily-life oriented context. The preliminary results have shown that not a single intention detection strategy can be unambiguously rated as superior to the other and that usability and performance do not necessarily always align with the participants’ subjective preferences. These findings underlined the need to offer various options to the users of such technologies. Finally, we took the last step towards actual use in a real-world application. We demonstrated the feasibility of using the RELab tenoexo, controlled by an intention detection strategy individually selected by the users, for four weeks for assistance during activities of daily living at home. Involving three participants with spinal cord injury, the study found that the effort for setup and donning of the robotic hand orthosis was perceived as high, and that the personal functional benefit the users gained during daily life tasks was limited. However, the users were very satisfied with the chosen intention detection strategies (specifically: button and voice control), and no related issues were reported. In conclusion, this work contributed towards the selection and evaluation of intention detection strategies suitable for real-world applications. It showed that, ideally, a variety of options should be offered to the user, which are as simple as possible and as complex as needed, allowing the user to select the one that fits their individual context of use best. Hence, this work promotes the translation of robotic assistive technologies to an application in which they can have an actual impact: the daily life of people with disabilities.
  • Development and Evaluation of a Sensor Glove to Detect Grasp Intention for a Wearable Robotic Hand Exoskeleton
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Hennig, Robert; Gantenbein, Jessica; Dittli, Jan; et al. (2020)
    2020 8th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)
    Restoring hand function in people suffering from neuromotor hand impairment is a crucial step towards regaining independence. Wearable robotic hand orthoses are a promising approach to support that aim by providing grasp assistance in daily life. For successful independent use of such an assistive device, a robust and intuitive method to detect the user’s intention to grasp is crucial. However, current solutions often fail to meet these two requirements. In this work, we present a novel sensor glove to detect the user’s grasp intention for the actuated hand exoskeleton RELab tenoexo by integrating soft flexible sensors into a conventional glove. Through contact detection with the object to grasp, the user input can be directly embedded into the regular movement. Sensor characterization and performance evaluation with three able-bodied subjects have shown that the developed sensor glove works reliably and can accurately detect the user’s grasp intentions with true positive and true negative rates of 93.1% and 97.6%, respectively. A pilot test with a possible end-user with spinal cord injury (SCI) underlined the potential benefits of the approach and helped to identify aspects, that require further improvements. The study demonstrated the general feasibility of this method and paves the way for inherently intuitive intention detection in wearable assistive devices.
  • Mixed methods usability evaluation of an assistive wearable robotic hand orthosis for people with spinal cord injury
    Item type: Journal Article
    Dittli, Jan; Meyer, Jan T.; Gantenbein, Jessica; et al. (2023)
    Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
    Background Robotic hand orthoses (RHO) aim to provide grasp assistance for people with sensorimotor hand impairment during daily tasks. Many of such devices have been shown to bring a functional benefit to the user. However, assessing functional benefit is not sufficient to evaluate the usability of such technologies for daily life application. A comprehensive and structured evaluation of device usability not only focusing on effectiveness but also efficiency and satisfaction is required, yet often falls short in existing literature. Mixed methods evaluations, i.e., assessing a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures, allow to obtain a more holistic picture of all relevant aspects of device usability. Considering these aspects already in early development stages allows to identify design issues and generate generalizable benchmarks for future developments. Methods We evaluated the short-term usability of the RELab tenoexo, a RHO for hand function assistance, in 15 users with tetraplegia after a spinal cord injury through a comprehensive mixed methods approach. We collected quantitative data using the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), the System Usability Scale (SUS), and timed tasks such as the donning process. In addition, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews and user observations, and analyzed with a thematic analysis to enhance the usability evaluation. All insights were attributed and discussed in relation to specifically defined usability attributes such as comfort, ease of use, functional benefit, and safety. Results The RELab tenoexo provided an immediate functional benefit to the users, resulting in a mean improvement of the ARAT score by 5.8 points and peaking at 15 points improvement for one user (clinically important difference: 5.7 points). The mean SUS rating of 60.6 represents an adequate usability, however, indicating that especially the RHO donning (average task time = 295 s) was perceived as too long and cumbersome. The participants were generally very satisfied with the ergonomics (size, dimensions, fit) of the RHO. Enhancing the ease of use, specifically in donning, increasing the provided grasping force, as well as the availability of tailoring options and customization were identified as main improvement areas to promote RHO usability. Conclusion The short-term usability of the RELab tenoexo was thoroughly evaluated with a mixed methods approach, which generated valuable data to improve the RHO in future iterations. In addition, learnings that might be transferable to the evaluation and design of other RHO were generated, which have the potential to increase the daily life applicability and acceptance of similar technologies.
  • Assessing students' motivation, learning, and skill transferability in a real-world project: Insights from the ETH Assistive Technology Challenge
    Item type: Journal Article
    Gantenbein, Jessica; Gassert, Roger (2025)
    ETH Learning and Teaching Journal
    Challenge-based learning addresses socially relevant real-world challenges and requires students to work closely together with stakeholders in a highly engaging and interdisciplinary manner. The newly established ‘Assistive Technology Challenge’ course at ETH Zurich promotes challenge-based learning by exposing Health Sciences and Technology students to diverse disciplines and skills of importance in the field of assistive technology. During the course, the students without an engineering background work together with a person with a physical disability to (co-)develop a personal technical solution for an individual challenge that the person encounters in their own daily life or during leisure activities. This work describes the course format, student assessment, and outcomes of the first edition of the course executed during the spring semester 2024. Further, it describes the outcomes of an online survey collecting students' feedback on the course and investigates how the chosen course format affected the learned competencies and students' motivation. Results show that the course format enabled students to achieve a successful project outcome, promoted high student motivation, and strengthened their competencies in areas expected to be relevant for their future careers.
  • A Helping Hand at Home: A Case Study on the Unsupervised Use of a Robotic Hand Orthosis in People with Tetraplegia
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Gantenbein, Jessica; Dittli, Jan; Meyer, Jan T.; et al. (2024)
    2024 10th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)
    Impairment in hand function due to cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to challenges in many activities of daily living for affected individuals. Robotic hand orthoses (RHOs) aim to help overcome these challenges by actively supporting grasp function. This work presents a case study involving three target users with neurological hand impairment due to SCI using a RHO without supervision at home. In one in -clinic and two at-home sessions, the RHO was individually tailored, and the users were trained in setting it up and using it independently. Afterward, they kept the RHO at home for at least four weeks and were encouraged to use it in specific daily tasks where it could provide assistance. We assessed perceived usability and functional performance while using the RHO before and after home use and recorded the amount of RHO use at home. We showed an increase in functional performance in terms of standardized tasks as well as for specific individual tasks selected by the participants with the tailored RHO compared to not using the RHO (average +1.4 out of 7 points for TRI-HFT manipulation tasks) and compared to using an untailored version of the RHO (average +1.17 points). The usability of the RHO was rated “more or less” to “quite” satisfying (average QUEST 2.0 score 3.2 out of 5). However, the effective amount of independent use was relatively low (from 1 to 7 times). The main reason for this was the prolonged donning time in relation to the limited perceived personal benefit. This work demonstrated the feasibility of an independent use of a RHO in the home environment by people with SCI. However, it also uncovered important challenges when applying such assistive technologies outside a laboratory context in the user's homes.
Publications 1 - 9 of 9