BME.16 Fine Facial Motion Tracker/Sensor System For Rats

• Anooshay Aamir
• Adrian Espino
• Alejandra Febus
• Besher Jabri
• Malik Nusairat

The purpose of this project is to design and create a device that researchers can use to study hypoglossal nerve damage. The hypoglossal nerve controls the voluntary movement of the tongue. Many neurological disorders can damage the hypoglossal nerve irreparably. To study the nerve, researchers use Sprague Dawley rats, in which they inflict nerve damage to. Our task is to develop a device that aids in the analysis of the before and aftereffects of hypoglossal nerve damage on the rats. A two-component device was designed and created part one being a rat-restraint device, and part two a tongue pressure sensor. The rat restraint device must have adjustable dimensions and be ergonomic to fit various sized rats allowing comfort when restrained. The device must also detect angular and directional movements of the tongue, in addition to the force imposed by the tongue. The design of the rat restraint device consists of a door that locks to prevent the rat from escaping. The sensor portion of the device is a circuit containing a 3 by 3 array of force sensing resistors, where each sensor is able to detect force applied onto it independently from the others. After, both the restraint and sensor aspects of the devices were combined and were verified to evaluate the performance of the device. Lastly, through validation we were able to confirm that the device achieves the goal of aiding researchers in studying hypoglossal nerve damage in rats.