From on-body sensors to in-body data for health monitoring and medical robotics: A survey

The estimation of musculoskeletal data such as muscle forces and joint torques could have a significant impact on patient care monitoring and medical robotics as well as on reducing healthcare and industrial costs by improving the treatment in the field of rehabilitation. Direct measurement of these data is now non-invasive, as they are computed from dedicated wireless on-body sensors, which can synchronously measure segment positions, muscle activation, external forces and allow to estimate muscle force and joint torques using musculoskeletal models. This paper presents a state-of-the-art survey reviewing both the most commonly used on-body sensors, over the last thirty years, to compute in-body data and the most popular optokinetic cameras. The results are presented and classified into tables which show the evolution of on-body sensors since the 1980´s, but also the challenges that lie ahead, as very accurate sensors only accentuate the faults of an inaccurate musculoskeletal model. The survey results show that there is a lack of studies validating the different musculoskeletal models. In addition, current interfaces between hardware and software could be improved.