Development of a whole arm wearable robotic exoskeleton for rehabilitation and to assist upper limb movements Development of a whole arm wearable robotic exoskeleton for rehabilitation and to assist upper limb movements

6 years, what happened with this? And doing this with healthy subjects is useless.

Do you prefer your hospital incompetence NOT KNOWING? OR NOT DOING?

 

Development of a whole arm wearable robotic exoskeleton for rehabilitation and to assist upper limb movements Development of a whole arm wearable robotic exoskeleton for rehabilitation and to assist upper limb movements

 
http://journals.cambridge.org
Downloaded: 30 Jan 2014IP address: 70.24.216.160
Robotica: page 1 of 21. © Cambridge University Press 2014doi:10.1017/S0263574714000034
 M. H. Rahman
†
,
‡
∗
, M. J. Rahman
†
, O. L. Cristobal
†
,M. Saad
†
, J. P. Kenn´e
†
 and P. S. Archambault
‡
,
§
†
 Department of Electrical Engineering, ´  Ecole de Technologie Sup´ erieure (ETS), Montr ´ eal, Canada
‡
School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montr ´ eal, Canada
§
 Interdisciplinary Research Center in Rehabilitation (CRIR), Montr ´ eal, Canada
(Accepted December 22, 2013)
SUMMARY
To assist physically disabled people with impaired upper limb function, we have developed a new7-DOF exoskeleton-type robot named
 Motion Assistive Robotic-Exoskeleton for Superior Extremity
(ETS-MARSE) to ease daily upper limb movements and to provide effective rehabilitation therapy to the superior extremity. The ETS-MARSE comprises a shoulder motion support part, an elbow and forearm motion support part, and a wrist motion support part. It is designed to be worn on the lateral side of the upper limb in order to provide naturalistic movements of the shoulder (vertical and horizontal flexion/extension and internal/external rotation), elbow (flexion/extension), forearm(pronation/supination), and wrist joint (radial/ulnar deviation and flexion/extension). This paper focuses on the modeling, design, development, and control of the ETS-MARSE. Experiments were carried out with healthy male human subjects in whom trajectory tracking in the form of passive rehabilitation exercises (i.e., pre-programmed trajectories recommended by a therapist/clinician)were carried out. Experimental results show that the ETS-MARSE can efficiently perform passiverehabilitation therapy.KEYWORDS: Robotic exoskeleton; Nonlinear control; Physical disability; Passive rehabilitation;Upper limb impairment.
1. Introduction
Upper limb impairment(such as full or partial loss of function in shoulder joint, elbow joint, and wrist joint movements) is very common in the elderly, but can also be a secondary effect due to strokes,cardiovascular diseases, trauma, sports injuries, occupational injuries, and spinal cord injuries. A proper functioning of the upper limb is very important for the performance of essential daily activities. According to the World Health Organization, each year strokes and cardiovascular diseases affect more than 15 million people worldwide.⁵Of these, 85% of stroke survivors incur acute arm impairment,and 40% are chronically impaired or permanently disabled, thereby placing burden on the family and community.⁸Rehabilitation programs are the main method to promote functional recovery in these subjects.¹¹Since the number of such cases is constantly growing, and the treatment duration is long,requiring skilled therapists or clinicians, introducing robots could therefore significantly contribute to the success of these programs in providing very efficient passive and tireless rehabilitation for long a period of time as the proposed Motion Assistive Robotic-Exoskeleton for Superior Extremity
( ETS-MARSE ) demonstrates.It has been shown in several studies that intensive and repetitive therapies significantly improve motor skills.¹³Further studies have revealed that enhanced motor learning occurs when patients
* Corresponding author. E-mail: mhrahman@ieee.org