Robotic techniques for upper limb rehabilitation and evaluation

In this paper we discuss the development of a therapeutic robotic system using an industrial manipulator, off-the-shelf hardware and in-house developed software. The development work starts with the analysis and the establishment of the requirements for a rehabilitation robotic system (RRS) and describes the proposed prototype and its operation. The developed system incorporates the necessary hardware and software modules to permit its use in safe and effective rehabilitation exercises. Tests were conducted on healthy individual and showed a correct behaviour of the system. The developed biomechanical model of the patient's arm and the rehabilitation exercise collected data simulate the dynamic behaviour of the arm and allow for the extraction of forces at the joint level. This information with other indicators will be used for the evaluation of the recovery process.

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