Design of a Central-Driven Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robot in Respect of Human Safety

The rehabilitation training efficiency and effect of hemiplegic patients can be improved by using an upper limb rehabilitation robot. Because the upper limb rehabilitation robot contacts with patients directly, it is necessary to consider the safety design of its mechanism and control. In order to improve the safety of mechanism design, this paper has designed a central-driven upper limb rehabilitation robot, which concentrates the driving and sensing elements on the robot’s base, so the volume, weight, and operation noise of the robot mechanism, which contacts with the patient directly, are reduced. In order to improve the safety of the control, the rehabilitation-training trajectory is planned to make the motion smoother, and the angle range and speed of the joint are limited. Finally, the robot prototype has developed, and the correctness of the safety design is verified by experiments.