Cartesian trajectory tracking of an upper limb exoskeleton robot

To rehabilitate individuals with upper limb impairments we have developed a wearable exoskeleton robot (ETS-MARSE), designed to be worn on the lateral side of the upper arm. In this paper, we have implemented Cartesian trajectory tracking of the ETS-MARSE. Experiments involved passive rehabilitation exercises (e.g., reaching movement) in three healthy human subjects. Cartesian trajectory tracking involving square shaped trajectories or multijoint reaching movements are widely used for passive arm movement therapy. As control strategies, a computationally inexpensive PID control and a sliding mode exponential reaching law control were used to maneuver the ETS-MARSE. Experimental results show that the ETS-MARSE can be maneuvered effectively to track the Cartesian trajectories which correspond to typical passive arm movement exercises.