Multimodal robotic system for upper-limb rehabilitation in physical environment

Jorge A Díez,Francisco J Badesa,José M Catalán,Nicolás Garcia-Aracil,Luis D Lledó

doi:10.1177/1687814016670282

Jorge A Díez, Francisco J Badesa + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/1687814016670282

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Abstract

This article researches the feasibility of use of a multimodal robotic system for upper-limb neurorehabilitation therapies in physical environments, interacting with real objects. This system consists of an end-effector upper-limb rehabilitation robot, a hand exoskeleton, a gaze tracking system, an object tracking system, and electromyographic measuring units. For this purpose, the system architecture is stated, explaining the detailed functions of each subsystem as well as the interaction among them. Finally, an experimental scenario is designed to test the system with healthy subjects in order to check whether the system is suitable for future experiments with patients.

Highlights

The use of robotic systems in neurorehabilitation therapies may be justified because of its potential impact on better treatment and motor learning.[1]
Many of the current devices use virtual reality systems to set up the rehabilitation context;[12,13,14,15,16,17] and just few examples use physical environments.[18,19]
Virtual reality systems are specially suitable for early stages of the disease,[20] due to the flexibility that it offers when designing tasks and feedback stimuli, and the safety that it provides due to the absence of interaction with physical objects that can lead to injuries

Summary

Introduction

The use of robotic systems in neurorehabilitation therapies may be justified because of its potential impact on better treatment and motor learning.[1] For this reason, in the recent years, a wide variety of robotic devices for upper-limb neurorehabilitation have been developed by research groups around the world.[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. In conjunction with these robotic devices, a wide range of robot-oriented rehabilitation interfaces and environments have been stated. Physical environments may suppose a good and inexpensive alternative to perform more complex, and functional, rehabilitation tasks in later stages of the disease, when patients have recovered some motor control of their upper limb

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