The paper presents a 2-d.o.f. wearable exoskeleton system designed for forearm motion assist in daily activity and rehabilitation. The proposed exoskeleton system is supposed to be directly attached to the lateral side of a patient’s upper limb, and assist the forearm motion (elbow flexion–extension motion and forearm supination–pronation motion) of the patient for daily activity and rehabilitation. The proposed exoskeleton is controlled based on the activation patterns of the electro-myogram signals of the patient’s muscles, which directly reflect the motion intention of the patient, in order to realize natural automatic motion assist. A sophisticated real-time neuro-fuzzy control method, in which the effect of a muscle common to both motions is taken into account, is proposed. The proposed control method enables cooperative motion of the elbow and forearm of the patient by learning the muscle activation patterns of each patient. The effectiveness of the proposed exoskeleton system is evaluated by experiment.

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The goal of this project is to develop a means for individuals with stroke to practice arm movement therapy at home with remote monitoring. We previously developed a Web-based system for repetitive movement training (Java Therapy). This paper describes a new input device for the system that measures and assists in naturalistic arm movement, as well as software enhancements. The new input device is an instrumented, adult-sized version of Wilmington robotic exoskeleton (WREX), which is a five degrees-of-freedom orthosis that counterbalances the weight of the arm using elastic bands. To test the ability of the new device (Training-WREX or «T-WREX») to measure and assist in functional arm movements, we measured five chronic stroke subjects’ movement ability while wearing the orthosis without gravity balance compared to wearing the orthosis with gravity balance. T-WREX’s gravity balance function improved a clinical measure of arm movement (Fugl-Meyer Score), range of motion of reaching movements, and accuracy of drawing movements. Coupled with an enhanced version of Java Therapy, T-WREX will thus provide a means to assist functional arm movement training at home, either over the Web in real-time, or stand-alone with periodic communication with a remote site.

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Loss of function after SCI, ABI or stroke has a marked affect on ones quality of life. Return of function has been a long-standing goal of physical and occupational therapy. Repeated motor practice has been identified as crucial for motor recovery. The development of a robotic device for neuromotor rehabilitation and upper extremity neuromuscular system recovery is described. The actuator mechanism allows free motion when possible, and provides programmable therapeutic levels of resistance. The sensor system allows characterization of the applied forces, and accurate measurement of the range of motion of the joint. The control system provides real time feedback of actuator commands based on sensor data, calibration routines, and operational modes.

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Two human–robot interactions, including a haptic in-teraction and a teleoperated interaction, are explored in this paper with a new exoskeleton-type master-arm, in which the electric brakes with the torque sensor beams are used for force reflection. In the hap-tic interaction with virtual environment, the masterarm is used as a haptic device and tested to examine how the resistant torque of the electric brake for the force reflection is implemented in contact regime prior to conducting the teleoperated interaction. Two types of virtual environments, a rigid wall with high stiffness (hard contact with 10 [KN/m]) and a soft wall with low stiffness (soft contact with 0.1 [N/m]), are integrated with the masterarm for the haptic interaction. In hard contact, large force is fed back to the human operator, and makes the human operator hardly move. The electric brake with the torque sensor beam can detect the torque and its direction so that it allows free motion as well as contact motion by releasing or holding the movement of the operator. The experimental results show how the electric brake is switched from contact to free regime to allow the operator to move freely, especially when the operator intends to move toward the free regime in contact. In soft contact, the force applied to the human operator can be increased or decreased proportionally to the torque amount sensed by the torque sensor beam, thus the operator can feel the contact force proportional to the amount of the deformation during the contact. Finally, the masterarm is integrated with the humanoid robot, CENTAUR developed at Korea Institute of Science and Technology to conduct a pick-and-place task through the teleoperated in-teraction. It is examined that the CENTAUR as a slave robot can follow the movement of the operator.

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Motion Capture is currently a widely used technology for character anima-tion, and can be seen as a common ingredient of many contemporary animated feature films and video games. Compared to traditional character animation, the Motion Capture technology can quickly produce very high quality animation data with high resemblance to real life motion. Unfortunately, the technology is very expensive, and commercial systems with a price tag below $20.000 can today be considered as a bargain. Hence, using Motion Capture as a tool for incorporating high quality live motion in a low budget animation project seems impossible as of today. However, since the underlying theory and principles behind capturing live motion are relatively straightforward, it should be possible to develop a Motion Capture system without having to spend tens of thousands of dollars. This thesis presents a full body Motion Capture system developed with strictly limited resources, at a total cost of $950. The system consists of an electromechanical, exoskeletal suit, constructed with cheap and lightweight materials, and a client-server software solution capable of real time visualization and data export. This diploma work has shown that it is possible to construct a high quality, real time Motion Capture system at a considerably low cost, compared to commercial alternatives. By offering blueprints for mechanics, schematics for electronics and source code for the software solution, this project opens doors for further development by other technical institutions and hobbyists.

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