An Exoskeleton Design Robotic Assisted Rehabilitation: Wrist & Forearm

Abstract

Robotic systems are being used in physiotherapy for medical purposes. Providing physical training (therapy) is one of the main applications of fields of rehabilitation robotics. Upper-extremity rehabilitation involves shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers’ actions that stimulate patients’ independence and quality of life. An exoskeleton for human wrist and forearm rehabilitation is designed and manufactured. It has three degrees of freedom which must be fitted to real human wrist and forearm. Anatomical motion range of human limbs is taken into account during design. A six DOF Denso robot is adapted. An exoskeleton driven by a serial robot has not been come across in the literature. It is feasible to apply torques to specific joints of the wrist by this way. Studies are still continuing in the subject. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.