Bioinspired mechanical design of an upper limb exoskeleton for rehabilitation and motor control assessment

Abstract

Robotic rehabilitation is a field that experienced a rapid expansion in the last decades due to two main reasons. First, due to the growth of population with rehabilitation needs such as stroke survivors, and two, due to the technological advances allowing the implementation of robotic devices in the clinical practice. These robotic rehabilitation devices can be broadly classified in two groups: the end-effector robots and the exoskeletons. Regarding the latter, it is important to note that the coupling with the human body demands a high safety factor. If the exoskeleton tries to impose kinematic or dynamic configurations that are not compatible with the human body, it may cause injury to the user. This issue is more critical in motor rehabilitation as the patients could show muscle weakness. In this context, this manuscript presents a bioinspired upper limb robotic exoskeleton, aiming to optimize the dynamic compatibility with the human arm. With this approach, it is expected that safety is intrinsic to the exoskeleton mechanism.