ERRSE: Elbow Robotic Rehabilitation System with an EMG-Based Force Control

Abstract

Physical rehabilitation based on robotic systems has the potential to cover the patient's need of improvement of upper extremity functionalities. In this article, the state of the art of resistant and assistive upper limb exoskeleton robots and their control are thoroughly investigated. Afterward, a single-degree-of-freedom exoskeleton matching the elbowforearm has been advanced to grant a valid rehabilitation therapy for persons with physical disability of upper limb motion. The authors have focused on the control system based on the use of electromyography signals as an input to drive the joint movement and manage the robotics arm. The correlation analysis between surface electromyography signal and the force exerted by the subject was studied in objects' grasping tests with the purpose of validating the methodology. The authors developed an innovative surface electromyography force-based active control that adjusts the force exerted by the device during rehabilitation. The control was validated by an experimental campaign on healthy subjects simulating disease on an arm, with positive results that confirm the proposed solution and that open the way to future researches.

Design, Development, and Testing of an Intelligent Wearable Robotic Exoskeleton Prototype for Upper Limb Rehabilitation

“…Reducing actuator performance may reduce power consumption, but limits the execution of higher speed movements, such as presented in [ 32 , 56 ]. A noteworthy feature of the used actuation system is the maximum effective torque, reaching a 33 Nm peak when compared to other results [ 42 , 47 , 51 , 56 , 66 ]. The active assistance, active resistance, and dynamic operations produced by the motor and gearbox have enough power to constrain or move the patient’s limb.…”

“…Although there are some lighter systems [ 38 , 56 , 59 ], they are not proposed as an active elbow joint support solution. It is highlighted that the proposed prototype is fully autonomous and portable with no fixed structures for its operation compared to other systems [ 41 , 47 , 51 , 53 , 66 , 68 ].…”

“…The actuator characteristics allow angular velocities above 86°/s (1.50 rad/s) which are equivalent or good compared to [ 39 , 43 , 47 , 59 , 66 ] but have been limited to maintain motion accuracy. Reducing actuator performance may reduce power consumption, but limits the execution of higher speed movements, such as presented in [ 32 , 56 ].…”

“…Other approaches involve surface electromyography (sEMG) systems [ 56 ], whose signals are used to control a 1-DoF robotic exoskeleton, providing a device that improves upper limb muscle function in ADLs. When designing robust controllers with multi-parametric inputs, notable results have been achieved using EMG-based control strategies in exoskeletons for elbow rehabilitation [ 66 ].…”

Arquitectura de un sistema de medición de bioparámetros integrando señales inerciales-magnéticas y electromiográficas

“…De manera similar, Tiboni [10] implementó una estrategia de control para un exoesqueleto robótico basado en EMG. Este sistema se proyecta para la rehabilitación del codo utilizando un exoesqueleto activo.…”