Surface Electromyography and Force Study for Progressive Rehabilitation Training during Different Modes

In recent years, rehabilitation robot has received great attention. A large number of rehabilitation robots have been developed for gait training and walking assistance, but there are few applications for early rehabilitation after stroke. This paper presents a rehabilitation robot for progressive rehabilitation evaluated by surface electromyography (sEMG) and contact force signal. In order to make the trajectory planning of rehabilitation robot conform to the human bipedal walking, the structure design was based on multi-link. The rehabilitation robot can operate in three modes, each mode provides specific degree of assistance. When subjects doing rehabilitation training by the robot, sEMG from six lower limb muscles was collected to evaluate muscle activation. Meanwhile contact force between rehabilitation robot and subjects was also recorded for analysis. As assistance degree increased, lower limb activation and contact force decreased. It indicated different assistance demand of subjects in progressive treatment. For the rehabilitation robot, specific rehabilitation mode can be selected by subjects with different level dysfunction of lower extremities based on sEMG and contact force.