The basic concepts for exoskeletal systems have been suggested for some time with applications ranging from construction, manufacturing and mining to rescue and emergency services. In recent years, research has been driven by possible uses in medical/rehabilitation and military applications. Yet there are still significant barriers to the effective use and exploitation of this technology. Among the most pertinent of these factors is the power and actuation system and its impact of control, strength, speed and, perhaps most critically, safety. This work describes the design, construction and testing of an ultra low-mass, full-body exoskeleton system having seven degrees of freedom (DOFs) for the upper limbs and five degrees of freedom (DOFs) for each of the lower limbs. This low mass is primarily due to the use of a new range of pneumatic muscle actuators as the power source for the system. The work presented will show how the system takes advantage of the inherent controllable compliance to produce a unit that is powerful, providing a wide range of functionality (motion and forces over an extended range) in a manner that has high safety integrity for the user. The general layout of both the upper and the lower body exoskeleton is presented together with results from preliminary experiments to demonstrate the potential of the device in limb retraining, rehabilitation and power assist (augmentation) operations.
Stroke forms one of the leading causes of death amongst adults in industrialized countries, and although survival rates are comparatively high in up to 1/3 of patients there is functional impairments (particularly in the upper limbs) that can persist even after rehabilitation training. Tasked based rehabilitation therapy (shaping) is a new approach that seems to offer good success compared to traditional methods, however, the technique requires very intensive and prolonged treatment. Robot mediated physiotherapy is the recent answer to the shortage of staff and the cost associated with this.In this paper a robotic approach to task based therapy is shown. The work focuses on how a robotic exoskeleton operating in a 3D volume can be used in conjunction with a Virtual Environment rehabilitation suite for training patients in relearning daily motor tasks. Salford Rehabilitation Exoskeleton (SRE) is used as an assistive device which helps individuals retrain in performing motor tasks by assisting them to complete therapy regimes. EMG recordings are used to show the capacity of the system to mediate the level of assistance provided from full assistance to zero aid.
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