Design of a Continuum Wearable Robot for Shoulder Rehabilitation

Abstract

A wearable robot for rehabilitation therapy is often shared by a group of patients in a clinic. If the wearable robot only consists of rigid links, the link dimensions usually need to be adjusted from time to time to fit different patients. It is then difficult to make sure these on-site adjustments could introduce the desired kinematic compatibility between the robot and each individual patient. A previous investigation shows it is possible to construct a compliant wearable robot that can provide Anatomy Adaptive Assistances (AAA), which means the robot passively adapts to different patient anatomies while providing consistent motion assistances. However, the previous design also possesses drawbacks such as limited motion ranges and limited payload capabilities. This paper presents a kinematics-based type synthesis for the construction of a new continuum wearable shoulder robot, aiming at overcoming these drawbacks as well as maintaining the capabilities of providing AAA. Three structural concepts of such a continuum wearable shoulder robot are studied through kinematic modeling. One concept is eventually selected based on the comparison results. Preliminary experiments are also presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the selected design.