Design and evaluation of a novel upper limb rehabilitation robot with space training based on an end effector

Abstract

Abstract. The target of this paper is to design a lightweight upper limb rehabilitation robot with space training based on end-effector configuration and to evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanism. In order to implement this purpose, an equivalent mechanism to the human being upper limb is proposed before the design. Then, a 4 degrees of freedom (DOF) end-effector-based upper limb rehabilitation robot configuration is designed to help stroke patients perform space rehabilitation training of the shoulder flexion/extension and adduction/abduction and elbow flexion/extension. Thereafter, its kinematical model is established together with the proposed equivalent upper limb mechanism. The Monte Carlo method is employed to establish their workspace. The results show that the overlap of the workspace between the proposed mechanism and the equivalent mechanism is 96.61 %. In addition, this paper also constructs a human–machine closed-chain mechanism to analyze the flexibility of the mechanism. According to the relative manipulability and manipulability ellipsoid, the highly flexible area of the mechanism accounts for 67.6 %, and the mechanism is far away from the singularity on the drinking trajectory. In the end, the single-joint training experiments and a drinking water training trajectory planning experiment are developed and the prototype is manufactured to verify it.

Design and Analysis of an Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robot Based on Multimodal Control

“…This system is securely affixed to the human arm through the end-effector. Furthermore, it exerts traction force on the extremities of the patient's limbs, facilitating upper limb rehabilitation training [4][5][6][7][8].…”

Autonomous Exercise Generator for Upper Extremity Rehabilitation: A Fuzzy-Logic-Based Approach

“…End-effectors have been in the scene for quite some time [12][13][14][15][16] showing promising results in the field of rehabilitation for the past two decades. Furthermore, new technologies continue to be adapted to these robots to improve their performance in replicating real-life therapy sessions [17][18][19][20][21]. Exoskeleton-type robots are the ones where the limb is attached to the end-effector in addition to multiple points along the robot.…”