A Feasibility Study on Measuring Angular Velocity using a Novel Essential Tremor Suppression Device

Tremor is a condition where the patient’s body part moves involuntarily in an uncontrollable rhythmic motion. The current treatment includes using medicine, brain surgery or wearable devices. The wearable devices are found to induce lower risk but the results are encouraging. Nevertheless, wearable devices are weighty and bulky. In this study, a novel essential tremor suppression device was developed. This paper aims to perform a feasibility study on measuring angular velocity by validating the mechanical vibration, represented as tremor suppression. As a pilot study, the tremor condition on actual patient was imitated utilising simulator device with a DC motor attached to a small propeller. A10g weight was attached to the propeller’s end to produce an unbalanced rotating motion towards the wearer. This additional mass will cause the system rotational inertia, imitating the tremor. For the suppression mechanism, a few vibration motors were attached as actuators. Arduino UNO was used as the microcontroller for both simulator and suppression control systems. The suppression of the tremor was tested by varying the vibration motor arrangements. Finally, vibration analyses were performed at three-axis angular velocity to compare and evaluate the simulated and suppressed tremors. The results confirm that the simulated tremors are in good agreement with literature; and the suppression system successfully reduced the simulated tremor.