Bionic Design of a Novel Portable Hand-Elbow Coordinate Exoskeleton for Activities of Daily Living

Abstract

This paper presents the mechanical design and test of a portable hand-elbow combination linkage upper limb rehabilitation robot, which can realize the joint movement of the hand joint and elbow joint and reproduce the complete grasping action. The joints that need bionic support are determined according to the characteristics of human upper limbs and hands, and the overall bionic mechanism is designed. The Motion module in SolidWorks is used to simulate and analyze the rehabilitation robot. The measurement experiment and grasping experiment of joint mobility are carried out on the experimental prototype. As a result, the angular displacement and linear displacement curves obtained via the simulation results are smooth. The measurement experiment of the joint range of motion confirms that the joint range of motion is also within the range of the normal joint angle of the human body, and the grasping experiment shows that the exoskeleton can grasp and lift a 1.801-kg cylindrical object and other daily necessities of different shapes. This result shows that the design of the portable hand-elbow combination linkage upper limb rehabilitation robot is reasonable, can satisfy the rehabilitation training requirements of the hand and upper limb, and has some ability to assist users in daily life.