Design and analysis of a compliant elbow-joint for arm rehabilitation robot

Rehabilitation robot aided sensorimotor training positively affects the reduction of impairment in patients. Due to the complexity of the physical structure of the upper limb of the human body, the joints of the robot are difficult to be aligned with the human joints in real time. This situation may cause pain or harm to the patient. Nowadays, more and more rehabilitation robots aim at clinical requirements such as being lightweight and the friendly interaction between robot and patient. So in this paper, we present the design and analysis of a compliant elbow-joint for arm rehabilitation robot which focuses on human-robot interaction. Firstly, a cable-driven arm rehabilitation robot is designed for the shoulder and elbow rehabilitation, which has the property of lightweight and flexibility. Secondly, an axis-adjustable elbow joint is designed to achieve real-time alignment with the skeletal elbow joint using a set of compliant mechanisms. Finally, the simulation results of the compliant elbow-joint can prove the design has a more friendly human-robot interaction.

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