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Rehabilitation robotics specializes in designing machines, such as exoskeletons, which can be utilized to restore function in patients recovering from physical trauma. The proposed Assistive Rehabilitation Arm Orthosis (A.R.A.O.) is designed to restore function and rehabilitate patients suffering from muscular diseases as well as mild-stroke. Clinical studies have shown that task-based repetitive...
The main aim of this paper is to design a hybrid force-position controller using fuzzy logic (FL) for the robotic arm of a 9 degrees of freedom (DOF) upper limb wearable exoskeleton rehabilitation robot. The robot is designed and built in our lab for assisting in the rehabilitation of patients post-stroke. The robotic arm of the rehabilitation robot is driven by pneumatic muscles (PM) and its dynamic...
This paper is motivated by works done in the area of robot-assisted stroke rehabilitation. The use of electromyographic (EMG) signal brings a new way of communication interface between user and robot. However, the EMG signal has to be transferred into useful information that serve as robot input. This paper presents a novel methodology for conversion of electromyographic (EMG) signal into estimated...
Robot-assisted rehabilitation has only recently begun to be applied to improvement of hand function after stroke. In a preliminary study, involving 4 post-stroke subjects, more than 2 years following the stroke, we have been able to show that 8 weeks of robot-assisted training leads to changes in patterns of arm and finger muscle activation. The patterns were quantified in terms of synchronous muscle...
The control of a rehabilitation robot for stroke should be designed to promote active participation of patients in the therapy process. This goal can be achieved by performance based assistance control to provide assistance only when needed and where it is needed. This control philosophy is implemented on Robot for Upper Extremity Repetitive Therapy (RUPERT), a wearable robotic exoskeleton powered...
This paper describes the kinematics and the dynamics of a 3-DOF pneumatic muscle driven wearable parallel robot designed for ankle rehabilitation treatments. Several important performance indices are identified to accomplish the requirements of the ankle rehabilitation treatment and the wearable robot design. It is found that some of these indices are conflicting and hence in order to obtain an optimal...
In this study, the sliding mode approach is applied to the tracking control problem of a planar arm manipulator system driven by a new type of actuator, which comprises a pneumatic muscle (PM) and a torsion spring. Unlike the traditional agonist/antagonist pneumatic muscle actuator, the PM is arranged in place of bicep and the torsion spring provides opposing torque in the presented actuator. The...
Now more than ever, progresses in information technology applied to rehabilitation robotics give new hopes to people recovering from different kinds of diseases and injuries. Beside the standard application of EMG signals to analyze disabilities or to track progress in rehabilitation, more focus has been put on controlling robot arms and exoskeletons. In recent years, biomechanists have developed...
A portable ankle rehabilitation robot with intelligent stretching and game-based active movement training was used to treat the spastic impaired ankle of children with cerebral palsy over six weeks. The subject's calf muscles and Achilles tendon properties were evaluated before and after treatment using ultrasonography and biomechanical measures. It was found that there were decreased Achilles tendon...
Recent experimental evidence suggests that a fundamental property of the human motor system is that it ldquoslacksrdquo; that is, that it continuously attempts to decrease levels of muscle activation when movement error is small during repetitive motions. This paper reviews several computational models of slacking, and discusses implications of slacking for the design of robotic orthoses. For therapeutic...
Robotic lower limb exoskeletons have been built for augmenting human performance, assisting with disabilities, studying human physiology, and re-training motor deficiencies. At the University of Michigan Human Neuromechanics Laboratory, we have built pneumatically-powered lower limb exoskeletons for the last two purposes. Most of our prior research has focused on ankle joint exoskeletons because of...
To support disabled persons with less muscle strength like muscular dystrophy patients, a single switch and a scanning menu panel is introduced to input method for the manipulator control. The iArm manipulator and its simulator are connected to evaluate the input performance. The evaluation task is the handling of pegs on the pegboard with the manipulator. Muscle dystrophy patients tested our interface...
The effect of using robots to improve motor recovery has received increased attention, while the treatment effectiveness remains a topic of study. We compared the training effects by treatments on the wrist joint of chronic stroke patients with an electromyography (EMG)-driven robot (interactive group, n = 15) and a robot with continuous passive motion (passive group, n = 12) by a randomized controlled...
Therapists often emphasize selection and design of proper training programs for individual patients in different situations and rehabilitation stages. Thus, in order to cater different patient groups, this paper proposes four assistant control strategies for robotic rehabilitation of gait locomotion: (1) orthosis-free, (2) totally-passive, (3) optimal assistance and (4) resistance exercise. A robotic...
It is well known that the massage therapy is useful for the rehabilitation of various diseases (i.e. oral health problems, etc.). Although various apparatus have been developed for the massage of the torso and limbs, a machine to perform precise massage therapy to maxillofacial region is not developed yet. The ability of a robotic system to exert itself without fatigue aims in providing more hours...
One of the useful features of robotic rehabilitation is the possibility of movement quantification, which is currently lacking in conventional rehabilitation therapy. Movement performance measures calculated from this quantitative information serves various purposes - (a) a good supplement to clinical assessment measures, (b) can be more sensitive than many clinical measures which use ordinal scales...
For central nervous system (CNS) impaired patients, e.g. after stroke, the achievement of an independent, stable gait function and endurance in walking is essential for independent mobility in daily life. Modern concepts of rehabilitation favor a task specific repetitive training, that facilitates natural motion and muscle activation patterns, i.e. in addition to commonly practiced floor walking other...
Pelvic motions are of great importance while walking, and have thus to be taken into account when developing and controlling rehabilitation devices. This paper will first introduce a new reeducation device for paraplegic people: the WalkTrainer. This device is composed of a leg and pelvic orthosis, an active bodyweight support and closed loop muscle stimulation. Second, the six degrees of freedom...
Research in robotic gait rehabilitation still faces many challenges regarding ankle assistance, body weight support and human-robot interaction. This paper reports on the development, focusing on these challenges, of a gait rehabilitation exoskeleton powered by pleated pneumatic artificial muscles. The first prototype is intended as a platform for the evaluation of design and control concepts. The...
In this study, the bilateral type pneumatic wearable master-slave device has been developed in order to feed back a force information to the trainer. Developed device is constructed with a master and a slave devices using pneumatic rubber muscles. A reaction torque of the slave device is estimated by a disturbance observer. By feeding back the estimated torque to a torque control system of the master...
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