Desenvolvimento de passarela com sensores de pressão para avaliação de pacientes com doença de Alzheimer

Abstract

This project consists of creating a prototype walkway equipped with pressure sensors, which will be used by the Department of Physiotherapy at the Federal University of São Carlos, with the aim of applying the Walking Trail Making Test (WTMT) to evaluate patients with Alzheimer's disease. The Walking Trail Making Test (WTMT) consists of a walking test on a walkway with markings, which evaluates the motor and cognitive functions of a patient with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease. One of the difficulties for the professional who is administering the test is to maintain a standard in recording the patient's performance data, while also observing their behavior while performing the test. To overcome this difficulty, a low-cost automated walkway was developed that captures patient data during the WTMT, in order to avoid errors when recording patient performance data and improve diagnosis in mild or moderate stages of the disease. In addition to using low-cost components, the prototype walkway developed is designed to be foldable and easy to transport. The walkway has low-cost piezoelectric pressure sensors that send signals corresponding to the places where the walkway was stepped on, to an Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller. A graphical interface was also developed in Excel that displays the data processed by the Arduino on a notebook screen in real time. This processed data is saved in a database that was created in Excel, allowing the management of WTMT data and enabling the generation of specific reports for each patient.