Abstract
Patients with neurological or orthopedic lesions require assistance during therapies with repetitive movements. NURSE (cassiNo-qUeretaro uppeR-limb aSsistive dEvice) is an arm movement aid device for both right- and left-upper limb. The device has a big workspace to conduct physical therapy or training on individuals including kids and elderly individuals, of any age and size. This paper describes the mechanism design of NURSE and presents a numerical procedure for testing the mechanism feasibility that includes a kinematic, dynamic, and FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis. The kinematic demonstrated that a big workspace is available in the device to reproduce therapeutic movements. The dynamic analysis shows that commercial motors for low power consumption can achieve the needed displacement, acceleration, speed, and torque. Finite Element Method showed that the mechanism can afford the upper limb weight with light-bars for a tiny design. This work has led to the construction of a NURSE prototype with a light structure of 2.6 kg fitting into a box of 35 × 45 × 30 cm. The latter facilitates portability as well as rehabilitation at home with a proper follow-up. The prototype presented a repeatability of ±1.3 cm that has been considered satisfactory for a device having components manufactured with 3D rapid prototyping technology.
Highlights
Life expectancy continues to increase, accompanied by motor disabilities in the elderly population, and exercising is an important way to prevent their depletion [1,2]
The developed device for arm motion assistance has been named NURSE and it is composed by a planar mechanism of two degrees of freedom, a control unit with PIC-SERVO control boards and a user interface that can be run using a computer, Appl
A kinematic analysis has shown that a large workspace is available in the device horizontal plane
Summary
Life expectancy continues to increase, accompanied by motor disabilities in the elderly population, and exercising is an important way to prevent their depletion [1,2]. The proposed device has been designed to offer a large workspace without bulky frames to guide both the left and right upper limbs without the need to be mechanically reconfigured, to follow desired paths by programming the device avoiding that the mechanical structure predetermine paths that cannot be modified by programming, to offer a light structure for portability and facilitate rehabilitation at home with the proper tele-supervision of a specialist, to provide a design with light links reducing the load that the motors of the mechanism must move reducing the required torque and the power consumption that is directly proportional, and to offer the possibility of programming different paths customized for people of different sizes and needs such as children and the elderly people without the need of mechanical reconfigurations or the need of a kid’s version design.
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