Exoskeleton and Brain Activity With fNIRS

Background. Force control is one of the major parameter of motor activity. There is few study concerning the cortical activity imply for different levels of force during gait. Objective. To investigate cortex activation while walking an exoskeleton with 4 levels of guidance force in healthy controls. Methods. The investigators acquired near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with a 20 channels device (Brite 24® ; Artinis) covering bilaterally most motor control brain regions during exoskeleton walking at different level of force (100 %, 50% aid, 0 % aid and 25 % of resistance) in 24 healthy controls. The investigators measured variations of oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin (HbR). The technique was optimized by the use of reference channels (to correct for superficial hemodynamic interference).