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New KINARM Exoskeleton Released!

Posted on Apr 7, 2016

The classic Scott KINARM was great, but now it is even better…

IMG_3301• Stiffer: A completely new linkage design has increased both vertical and in-plane mechanical
stiffness by 2-3 times. Stiff force channels are now possible.

Vertical out-of-plane stiffness: 8,500 N/m
End-point in-plane mechanical stiffness: ~16,400 N/m

• Greater Accessibility to the Head: The motors are mounted below the shoulders thus enabling full access to the head. Now you can use TMS – and any other head-mounted peripheral – without having to “squeeze it in”.


IMG_1952• 25% More Torque: 16.5 Nm (peak), 5.5 Nm (continuous)

• No More Analog: The electronics have been upgraded to all digital communication using the EtherCAT protocol.

• Quiet and Smooth: With EtherCAT, we’ve changed the servo amps, eliminating the audible noise and slight jitter felt with the Classic. Subjects perceive smoother movements.

The NEW KINARM Exoskeleton is now generally available.  Contact: sales@bkintechnologies.com for more information and pricing.

Download the KINARM Exoskeleton’s New Look

 

Come and try a KINARM: American Academy of Neurology, April 18-21, 2016, booth 1719

Posted on Feb 1, 2016

BKIN will once again be exhibiting at the American Academy of Neurology being held this year in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia.  We will be in booth 1719. The tradeshow opens with a reception on Monday, April 18th, 2016 from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm; exhibits continue Tuesday, April 19th to Thursday, April 21st from 11:30 am to 5 pm. We close early Thursday at 3:30pm.

AAN 2015, Wasghington, DC

AAN 2015, Wasghington, DC

We will have a fully functioning bilateral KINARM End-Point Lab in the booth, giving everyone a chance to try KINARM Standards Tests, our sophisticated brain function assessment protocol.

We look forward to seeing you in Vancouver at Booth 1719!

Neuroscience 2015: October 17-21, 2015, Chicago, Booth # 2073

Posted on Oct 7, 2015

Neuroscience 2015 is just around the corner so we thought we should give a sneak peak of what you might hear about if you visit our booth (#2073):

For KINARM Standard Tests, we are proud to say that an “overall” Task Score will be available for every Standard Task with the release of Dex 3.6.  The addition of a “global” score will greatly assist new and long-time users of KST to help them quickly answer the question: “Did my subject pass or fail the task?”  Have no fear, all the parameters and analysis are still there; nothing has been taken away.  We’ll be happy to share the “math” behind it (can you say “Mahalanobis”?) and we are eager to get your feedback.

Also new to KINARM Standard Tests with Dex 3.6 is the Spasticity and Tone Task.  Thanks to the hard work of our customers at Sunnybrook Research Institute, we think this new task for our Exoskeleton Lab users will be a massive improvement over the Modified Ashworth and Tardieu tests.  The task will be available for demonstration in our booth at Neuroscience. You can get a peak at the new report here: Spasticity and Tone Task

Lastly, we hope to see you at the Neurorehab Social being held at RIC which we are sponsoring again this year.  Further details are listed under the Satellite Events on the SfN website.

Hope to see you there!

Anne, Ian & Duncan

Two Spots Left for KINARM Camp 2015

Posted on May 8, 2015

Our second KINARM Camp will take place June 7-12, 2015 in Kingston, Ontario, at the shore of beautiful Lake Ontario.  If you are interested in securing a spot, please contact Anne as soon as possible.  All campers have received their information package and program development is well underway. It promises to be another intense week of advanced training for KINARM users.

Past Events

Posted on Apr 25, 2015

American Academy of Neurology 2015, April 20 – 23, Washington, D.C.
Neuroscience 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004
International Brain Injury Association 2014
Neural Control of Movement 2011-2015
Chinese Society of Neuroscience 2014
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, 2011, 2014
American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections 2013, 2014
Canadian Stroke Congress 2011
Canadian Association of Neuroscience 2008
Canadian Society of Biomechanics 2010

 

U.S., European patents issued for BKIN’s core technology

Posted on Feb 11, 2015

KINGSTON, ON — BKIN Technologies Ltd. is pleased to announce that its KINARM robotic assessment system has been granted three additional patents.

Three separate patent families had patents issued or allowed since the beginning of the year, in part thanks to the expert stewardship of the patent group at PARTEQ Innovations.  “Method and Apparatus for Assessing or Detecting Brain Injury and Neurological Disorders” (US Patent No. 8,740,794) issued on June 3, 2014 which covers two foundational tasks in BKIN’s KINARM Standard Tests suite. 

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Dexterit-E 3.5 and Dexterit-E Explorer 1.2

Posted on Feb 11, 2015

KINGSTON, ON  New KST tests and significant usability enhancements have been released by BKINs Development Team.

BKIN Technologies is pleased to announce the release of version 3.5 of Dexterit-E: BKINs proprietary experiment control software for safe, effective control of KINARM LabsTM. Duncan McLean, Senior Software Developer, noted that this is the highest number of enhancements ever released at one time. They covered a range of Dexterit-E functions and user requests: from custom task control and useability, to enhanced calibration of the KINARM Gaze-Tracker, to new KINARM Standard Tests for our clinical research users. Some of the key enhancements include:

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3.5.0 – Dexterit-E and Dexterit-E Explorer 1.2.0 – Released

Posted on Feb 10, 2015

We are very pleased to be releasing simultaneously Dexterit-E 3.5.0 and Dexterit-E Explorer 1.2.0! For a complete list of updates please check out the download pages and the release notes:

Dexterit-E 3.5.0: Downloads
Dexterit-E Explorer 1.2.0: Downloads

Dexterit-E 3.5.0 comes with several major new features that improve both task development and overall usability. Of special note are:
Instructional videos
It is now possible to use Dexterit-E Explorer 1.2.0 or higher to make videos that can be displayed to the subject before a Custom Task is run. Each protocol can have its own video.
Analysis and Reporting
The analysis and reporting framework has been significantly rewritten to make it considerably more efficient. Exporting CSV analysis results and generating reports should take about 15-30% of the time it took with Dexterit-E 3.4.
New Standard Tests and Normative Data
There are 2 new KINARM Standard Tests: Ball on Bar and Reverse Visually Guided Reaching.
Ball on Bar is a task for assessing bi-manual dexterity by balancing a ball, with declining friction, on a bar held by both hands. Reverse Visually Guided Reaching (RVGR) is very similar to the Visually Guided Reaching task, except that the hand feedback moves in the opposite direction of the actual hand. The purpose of the RVGR task is to test cognitive override abilities in neurologically impaired subjects. Normative data is now provided with the previously released Spatial Span
Test.
Enhanced Task Control Buttons
It is now possible to group task control buttons together in Dexterit-E. The Parameter Table Defn block allows you to define layouts for groups of buttons that will appear in Dexterit-E.
KINARM Gaze-Tracker Enhancements
When using the KINARM Gaze-Tracker it is now possible to perform several calibration/validation operations on a single subject, then apply the best result. There is a new TDK block for detecting if a subject’s gaze is in a target. We now record and save the subject’s pupil area to exam files as well saccade and fixation events.