A Low-Cost and Lightweight Alternative to Rehabilitation Robots: Omnidirectional Interactive Mobile Robot for Arm Rehabilitation

Abstract

Robotic rehabilitation is a growing field. Robots facilitate repetitive therapies, which have positive effects on the rehabilitation of patients who lack arm control because of central nervous system lesions. However, the use of such rehabilitation robots is rare due to high costs and low acceptance among patients. Therefore, this study is focused on the development and control of a novel low-cost omnidirectional interactive mobile robotic platform with force feedback to assist and guide a patient’s hand during therapy. The primary goals for such a mobile robot are to minimize its weight and dimensions, which are significant factors in patient acceptance. Position-based stiffness control was employed with a proportional derivative controller to control the position of the robot and to assist the patient during motion. A user interface with given tasks was built to manage tasks, obtain test results and set control variables. Test results showed that the developed experimental mobile robot successfully assisted and guided the user during the test period.