Traditional shoulder therapy techniques involve the physical therapist controlling and measuring forces on the patient’s arm to work particular muscles. The imprecise nature of this leads to inconsistent exercises and inaccurate measurements of patient progress. Some research has shown that robotic devices can be valuable in a physical therapy setting, but most of these mechanisms do not have enough degrees of freedom in the shoulder joint to be useful in shoulder therapy, nor are they able to apply forces along the arm limbs. Based upon the shortcomings of traditional physical therapy robots and low force exoskeletons designed for virtual reality applications, requirements were generated for a robotic arm exoskeleton designed specifically for rehabilitation. Various kinematic designs were explored and compared until a final design emerged. Options for actuation were discussed, and the selection process for actuator components was detailed. Sensors were addressed in their role in the control and safety architecture. A mechanical analysis was performed on the final design to determine various properties, such as torque output, range of motion, and frequency response. Finally, a list of future work was compiled based on the final design’s deficiencies.

Категория: Ищем научные статьи | Нет комментариев »

Exoskeleton robots are mechanical constructions attached to human body parts, containing actuators for influencing human motion. One important application area for exoskeletons is human motion support, for example, for disabled people, including rehabilitation training, and for force enhancement in healthy subjects. This paper surveys two exoskeleton systems developed in our laboratory. The first system is a lower-extremity exoskeleton with one actuated degree of freedom in the knee joint. This system was designed for motion support in disabled people. The second system is an exoskeleton for a human hand with 16 actuated joints, four for each finger. This hand exoskeleton will be used in rehabilitation training after hand surgeries. The application of EMG signals for motion control is presented. An overview of the design and control methods, and first experimental results for the leg exoskeleton are reported.

(далее…)

Категория: Научные статьи | Нет комментариев »