ShouldeRO, an alignment-free two-DOF rehabilitation robot for the shoulder complex

This paper presents a robot aimed to assist the shoulder movements of stroke patients during their rehabilitation process. This robot has the general form of an exoskeleton, but is characterized by an action principle on the patient no longer requiring a tedious and accurate alignment of the robot and patient's joints. It is constituted of a poly-articulated structure whose actuation is deported and transmission is ensured by Bowden cables. It manages two of the three rotational degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the shoulder. Quite light and compact, its proximal end can be rigidly fixed to the patient's back on a rucksack structure. As for its distal end, it is connected to the arm through passive joints and a splint guaranteeing the robot action principle, i.e. exert a force perpendicular to the patient's arm, whatever its configuration. This paper also presents a first prototype of this robot and some experimental results such as the arm angular excursions reached with the robot in the three joint planes.

[1]  F.C.T. van der Helm,et al.  Kinematic Design to Improve Ergonomics in Human Machine Interaction , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[2]  M. Munih,et al.  The GENTLE/S project : A new method of delivering neuro-rehabilitation , 2001 .

[3]  Frans C. T. van der Helm,et al.  Self-Aligning Exoskeleton Axes Through Decoupling of Joint Rotations and Translations , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[4]  D.J. Reinkensmeyer,et al.  A pneumatic robot for re-training arm movement after stroke: rationale and mechanical design , 2005, 9th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2005. ICORR 2005..

[5]  G. Verbeke,et al.  Early and Repetitive Stimulation of the Arm Can Substantially Improve the Long-Term Outcome After Stroke: A 5-Year Follow-up Study of a Randomized Trial , 2004, Stroke.

[6]  J.C. Perry,et al.  Upper-Limb Powered Exoskeleton Design , 2007, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[7]  G. Kwakkel,et al.  Long term effects of intensity of upper and lower limb training after stroke: a randomised trial , 2002, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[8]  Elizabeth A. Brackbill,et al.  Dynamics and control of a 4-dof wearable cable-driven upper arm exoskeleton , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[9]  H. F. Machiel van der Loos,et al.  Development of robots for rehabilitation therapy: the Palo Alto VA/Stanford experience. , 2000, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[10]  Nicola J. Ferrier,et al.  Design and Control of a Force-Reflecting Haptic Interface for Teleoperational Grasping , 2002 .

[11]  Robert Riener,et al.  ARMin II - 7 DoF rehabilitation robot: mechanics and kinematics , 2007, Proceedings 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[12]  Antonio Frisoli,et al.  A new force-feedback arm exoskeleton for haptic interaction in virtual environments , 2005, First Joint Eurohaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems. World Haptics Conference.

[13]  Maarten J. IJzerman,et al.  Systematic review of the effect of robot-aided therapy on recovery of the hemiparetic arm after stroke. , 2006, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[14]  N. Hogan,et al.  Robot-aided neurorehabilitation. , 1998, IEEE transactions on rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[15]  S. Hesse,et al.  Upper and lower extremity robotic devices for rehabilitation and for studying motor control , 2003, Current opinion in neurology.

[16]  R. Riener,et al.  ARMin - Toward a six DoF upper limb rehabilitation robot , 2006, The First IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 2006. BioRob 2006..

[17]  Frans C. T. van der Helm,et al.  Bowden Cable Actuator for Force-Feedback Exoskeletons , 2006, 2006 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[18]  G. Visentin,et al.  The ESA Human Arm Exoskeleton for Space Robotics Telepresence , 2003 .

[19]  C.G. Burgar,et al.  Evidence for improved muscle activation patterns after retraining of reaching movements with the MIME robotic system in subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[20]  J. Lenarcic,et al.  A humanoid shoulder complex and the humeral pointing kinematics , 2003, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[21]  William S. Harwin,et al.  Upper Limb Robot Mediated Stroke Therapy—GENTLE/s Approach , 2003, Auton. Robots.

[22]  S.J. Ball,et al.  MEDARM: a rehabilitation robot with 5DOF at the shoulder complex , 2007, 2007 IEEE/ASME international conference on advanced intelligent mechatronics.

[23]  Bryan Buchholz,et al.  ISB recommendation on definitions of joint coordinate systems of various joints for the reporting of human joint motion--Part II: shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand. , 2005, Journal of biomechanics.

[24]  H. van der Kooij,et al.  Design of a series elastic- and Bowden cable-based actuation system for use as torque-actuator in exoskeleton-type training , 2005, 9th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2005. ICORR 2005..

[25]  H. Krebs,et al.  Effects of Robot-Assisted Therapy on Upper Limb Recovery After Stroke: A Systematic Review , 2008, Neurorehabilitation and neural repair.

[26]  Robert Riener,et al.  Robot-aided neurorehabilitation of the upper extremities , 2005, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing.

[27]  C. Burgar,et al.  Robot-assisted movement training compared with conventional therapy techniques for the rehabilitation of upper-limb motor function after stroke. , 2002, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.