State-of-the-Art Assistive Powered Upper Limb Exoskeletons for Elderly

Abstract

The number of older people is growing rapidly around the world. Ageing process results in reduced or restricted mobility which is essential to perform activities of daily living. Currently, there are numerous powered assistive exoskeletons commercially available as well as are being developed to support and rehabilitate lower limbs. Significant attention is also been given to develop upper limb rehabilitation devices, however the question of what kind of assistive devices can be used by elderly group of people for their upper limbs and what technical characteristics they should incorporate is not properly researched. This paper presents the state of the art of currently available assistive exoskeletons which can be exploited to support the motions of upper limbs of elderly to perform activities of daily living. Mechanism type, degrees of freedom, type actuators and materials selected for the fabrication of these porotypes are presented in detail. Also, the type of control systems utilized for these upper limb exoskeletons are discussed in detail with the insight on the feedback signal methods. A detailed discussion on the challenges in the fields of mechanism development, actuation and control for these upper limb powered exoskeletons is presented with the opportunities for future technological developments.

Robotic devices for paediatric rehabilitation: a review of design features

“…The training strategy and the HCI are an integral part of the robot-assisted rehabilitation since it determines how the patient interacts with the robot and the type of assistance that the robot can provide. Many authors have analysed these last two characteristics as part of the robots control [ 28 , 30 , 44 ]. However, control also involves “low level” considerations that are more related to the internal communication of the components (sensors, structures, microcontrollers, actuators, etc.)…”

“…Although multiple devices for the robotic rehabilitation of upper and lower limbs have been developed, at least in a proof-of-concept phase [ 24 , 39 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 51 ], most presented robots were designed for adult users, impeding their use on the paediatric population. For example, commercial exoskeletons are made for a subject 150 cm tall onwards [ 52 ], while the average height for a 5-year-old child will be around 110 cm [ 53 ].…”

Design of a powered full-body exoskeleton for physical assistance of elderly people

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Wearable exoskeletons offer useful solutions to the growing needs for assistive technologies. [7][8][9][10][11] Despite this growth, exoskeleton research has largely been focused on military applications to enhance the load carrying capabilities of soldiers/workers, assisting individuals following trauma and/or spinal cord injury and for rehabilitation needs. 12 Besides militaryfocused exoskeletons, the majority of research activities has been focused on medical application.…”

“…1,13 The needs of ageing society for physical assistance are not sufficiently addressed to utilizing the strong potential in the support of motion. 11,14 This work addresses the possibility of using wearable exoskeletons for ageing to provide general assistance in a natural manner to support activities in daily living. 12,15,16 Full-body (FB) exoskeletons are typically used as human strength amplifiers, where loads are transferred through the exoskeleton, controlled by the human, to the ground.…”

Human-in-the-Loop Weight Compensation in Upper Limb Wearable Robots Towards Total Muscles’ Effort Minimization

“…Despite of many efforts in design and control of upper limb wearable robots [1], [2], still, design of an effective control approach for upper limb assistance is a challenge; see [3–6]. And, many of the suggested methods for control of upper limb exoskeletons are not effective.…”