Jacqueline Hebert, MD, FRCPC

Area of Study / Keywords

amputation rehabilitation prostheses; sensory restoration outcome measures prosthetic technology gait device development

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About

Dr. Hebert is Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. She is cross-appointed to the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her clinical focus is on Adult Amputation Rehabilitation at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. As a clinician-scientist, her research focuses on the development of advanced sensory-motor prostheses and functional outcome assessments for upper and lower limb amputation. Her "Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control" (BLINC) lab is part of the institute for Sensory Motor Adaptive Rehabilitation Technologies (iSMART).

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Research

www.BlincLab.ca 

A quantitative outcome metric for upper limb sensory-motor function was developed that sensitively measures the visuomotor attention and movement behaviour of upper limb function. GaMA has been used to show differences in visuomotor behaviour with advanced sensory-motor upper limb prostheses. GaMA is now being translated to other research institutions to use for measuring outcomes.

GaMA

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NSERC CREATE in Sensory Motor Rehabilitative Technology (SMART) is a world-class, industry-informed, interdisciplinary training program which equips trainees with the practical knowledge essential to succeed in a rapidly adapting, team-based technological environment and inclusive society. This is a six year NSERC funded training grant involving 4 faculties, lead by Dr. Hebert as the Program Director.

SMART CREATE

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Myoelectric prostheses have undergone extensive developments in their complexity and movement patterns, yet controlling these devices can be difficult as they lack the sensory feedback provided by traditional body powered prostheses. With targeted muscle reinnervation surgery, sensory nerves are relocated into the skin so that when touched on part of the reinnervated skin, the patient feels as though they are being touched on their missing limb. In previous work the BLINC group has shown that this restored hand map can be harnessed to provide feedback to the patient such that when they grip something with a robotic hand, a tactor pushes into their reinnervated skin and they feel as if they are gripping the object directly. We have also shown that movement sensations can be transmitted back to the user, reducing visual attention and normalizing visuomotor behaviour.

BLINC: Sensory feedback systems for myoelectric prostheses

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The original Myoelectric Training Tool (MTT) is both functional and inexpensive, but has an un-anatomical appearance and limited payload. To overcome these issues an improved robotic arm, called the “Bento Arm”, was designed specifically for myoelectric training and research applications. The Bento Arm includes five (5) degrees of freedom (shoulder rotation, elbow flexion, wrist rotation, wrist flexion, hand open/close) to match both commercially available and future anticipated myoelectric components.

The arm was designed to be 1:1 scale to anatomical proportions. The stronger MX-series of Dynamixel actuators allow for increased payloads and include integrated position and velocity joint feedback and control. Anthropomorphic arm shells were designed using 3D scanning technology to improve the aesthetics of the arm and allow it to be more easily visualized as an arm. A quick disconnect wrist was specified as the wrist connector to allow commercial myoelectric hands to be interchanged with custom grippers.

Two different software interfaces for the Bento Arm were developed including one that uses MATLAB’s xPC target with a Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) and another that uses Robotic Operating System (ROS) with a Linux GUI. The prototype of the Bento Arm was 3D printed and tested with the ROS interface and was fitted with a SensorHand Speed (Ottobock, Inc.). Although the arm was primarily designed to be desk mounted we have also interfaced the prototype to a transhumeral socket to verify that it can be worn by amputee subjects in research trials.

BLINC: The Bento Arm

Heather E. Williams, Ahmed W. Shehata, Kodi Y. Cheng, Jacqueline S. Hebert, Patrick M. Pilarski

2024 February; 10.1101/2024.02.05.578477

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Heather E. Williams, Ahmed W. Shehata, Kodi Y. Cheng, Jacqueline S. Hebert, Patrick M. Pilarski

2023 August; 10.1101/2023.08.28.554998

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Reihaneh Ravari, Mayank Rehani, Jacqueline S. Hebert

Prosthetics & Orthotics International. 2023 August; 10.1097/PXR.0000000000000263

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Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. 2023 January; 10.1186/s12984-023-01180-1

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Proceedings of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering International Congress 2022. 2022 June;

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Wells E.D., Shehata A.W., Dawson M.R., Carey J.P., Hebert J.S.

Sensors (Basel). 2022 May; 22 (10):3892 10.3390/s22103892

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Campbell K.E., Parent E.C., Crumback D.J., Hebert J.S.

MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN SPORTS AND EXERCISE. 2022 February; 54 (2):337-344 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002789

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Williams H.E., Shehata A.W., Dawson M.R., Scheme E., Hebert J.S., Pilarksi P.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. 2022 January; 10.1109/TBME.2022.3140269

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IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics. 2022 January; 10.1109/ICORR55369.2022.9896491

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IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics. 2022 January; 10.1109/ICORR55369.2022.9896593

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Bahari H., Forero J., Hall J.C., Hebert J.S., Vette A.H., Rouhani H.

Scientific Reports. 2021 December; 11 (1):1026 10.1038/s41598-020-79955-y

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Williams H.E., Chapman C.S., Pilarski P.M., Vette A.H., Hebert J.S.

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. 2021 December; 18 (1) 10.1186/s12984-021-00855-x

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18th World Congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics. 2021 November;

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18th World Congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics. 2021 November;

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International Society of Prosthetics & Orthotics World Congress. 2021 November;

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Marasco P.D., Hebert J.S., Sensinger J.W., Beckler D.T., Thumser Z.C., Shehata A.W., Williams H.E., Wilson K.R.

Science Robotics. 2021 September; 6 (58):eabf3368 10.1126/scirobotics.abf3368

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International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics. 2021 September;

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International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics. 2021 September;

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Hebert J.S., Marasco P.D.

Somatosensory Feedback for Neuroprosthetics. 2021 July; 10.1016/B978-0-12-822828-9.00003-4

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Shehata A.W., Williams H.E., Hebert J.S., Pillarski P.M.

IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE. 2021 June; 38 (4):46-53 10.1109/MSP.2021.3075931

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Stone S.A., Boser Q.A., Dawson T.R., Vette A.H., Hebert J.S., Pilarski P.M., Chapman C.S.

ETRA '21 Adjunct: ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications. 2021 May; 10.1145/3450341.3458880

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Eye Tracking Research and Applications Symposium (ETRA). 2021 May; 10.1145/3450341.3458880

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Williams H.E., Chapman C.S., Pilarski P.M., Vette A.H., Hebert J.S.

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. 2021 May; 18 10.1186/s12984-021-00855-x

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Boser Q.A., Dawson M.R., Schofield J.S., Dziwenko G.Y., Hebert J.S.

PROSTHETICS AND ORTHOTICS INTERNATIONAL. 2021 April; 45 (2):161-169 10.1177/0309364620963943

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Keri M.I., Shehata A.W., Marasco P.D., Hebert J.S., Vette A.H.

SENSORS. 2021 March; 21 (5) 10.3390/s21051844

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Bahari H., Forero J., Hall J.C., Hebert J.S., Vette A.H., Rouhani H.

Scientific Reports. 2021 January; 11 (1) 10.1038/s41598-020-79955-y

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IEEE Signal Processing Magazine. 2021 January; 10.1109/MSP.2021.3075931

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Science Robotics. 2021 January; 10.1126/scirobotics.abf3368

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Clinical Biomechanics. 2020 January; 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2019.12.002

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Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2020 January; 10.3389/fnins.2020.00263

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PLoS ONE. 2019 January; 10.1371/journal.pone.0219333

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JAMA network open. 2019 January; 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.11197

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Science Translational Medicine. 2018 January; 10.1126/scitranslmed.aao6990

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