A novel wrist rehabilitation/assistive device

Abstract

This work presents a novel wearable exoskeleton capable of moving the human wrist for rehabilitation or assistive purposes. The purpose of the device is to grant autonomy to individuals suffering from medical conditions such as frailty, spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke or other motor diseases. The device can be operated in two modes. The rehabilitation mode of the device moves the hand in a predefined manner and records the electromyography (EMG) signals for analysis. The assistive mode uses EMG signals to identify the intention of the user and the helps in the movement of the hand by supplying the assistive force. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) along with artificial neural networks is employed for EMG pattern recognition. Different aspects to this are currently under study and the initial design and test results for the device are discussed.