Development of a Mechatronic System for the Mirror Therapy

Maurizio Ruggiu,Pierluigi Rea

doi:10.3390/act11010014

Abstract

This paper fits into the field of research concerning robotic systems for rehabilitation. Robotic systems are going to be increasingly used to assist fragile persons and to perform rehabilitation tasks for persons affected by motion injuries. Among the recovery therapies, the mirror therapy was shown to be effective for the functional recovery of an arm after stroke. In this paper we present a master/slave robotic device based on the mirror therapy paradigm for wrist rehabilitation. The device is designed to orient the affected wrist in real time according to the imposed motion of the healthy wrist. The paper shows the kinematic analysis of the system, the numerical simulations, an experimental mechatronic set-up, and a built 3D-printed prototype.

Highlights

Limb rehabilitation using robotic devices is an innovative form of rehabilitation based on interactions between the patient and the device
The paper shows the kinematic analysis of the system, the numerical simulations, an experimental mechatronic set-up, and a built 3D-printed prototype
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: In Section 2 a description of the system is provided, Section 3 presents the kinematic analysis of the mechanisms, Section 4 shows the numerical results obtained from the simulations whilst in Section 5 we describe the experimental set-up

Summary

Introduction

Limb rehabilitation using robotic devices is an innovative form of rehabilitation based on interactions between the patient and the device. The robotic rehabilitation systems can be classified according to the design, depending on whether it operates as end-effector or as an exoskeleton Another classification is between proximal and distal robots. MACARM (Multi-Axis Cartesian-based Arm Rehabilitation Machine) is a planar cable-driven system designed for the rehabilitation of the upper limb [12]. The use of this kind of technology was further used in [13,14], for correct operations, several issues for the design and modeling should be considered [15,16,17]. We present the design, analysis and experimental set-up of a system based on the mirror therapy concept suited to wrist rehabilitation.

Description of the System

Kinematics

Experimental Set-Up of the System

Conclusions