LEGO application for a microelectronics powered upper limb exoskeleton.

Abstract

In general, the main aim of education through models is based on stimulating young people's ability to think logically and use their creativity to develop practical problem-solving skills. Over time, the standard educational process has identified the need to find and use new ways of transmitting basic information in the teaching of students and this way has been quantified by the phrase - serious games. This approach allows a faster and more efficient access of users (pupils-students) to the information bases and a correct and beneficial transmission of their theoretical and practical training. Thus, in the first part of the paper a number of aspects related to educational resources based on Lego pieces and an analysis of the opportunity of their use in the processes of instruction, learning and creation are presented. In the second part of the paper, an analysis of the different variants of Lego pieces assemblies used for the development of exoskeleton shapes or for upper limb training is carried out, as well as for the study of the possibility of obtaining versatile and customized variants. In the third part of the paper, the experimental model of a microelectronically actuated upper limb exoskeleton is presented, useful in training procedures for the rehabilitation of elbow joint and wrist movements. In the final part of the paper, observations obtained from the construction of the system and conclusions regarding the use of such a demonstration-educational model in practical problem-solving skills development actions are presented.