01-05-2013, 04:15 PM
Knee Rehabilitation Robot Abstract
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ABSTRACT
Rehabilitation is an activity which aims to enable a disabled person to reach an optimum mental, physical, and/or social functional level. Stroke, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries are a leading cause of disability and handicap in the industrialized world. The successful motor rehabilitation of these requires an intensive and task-specific therapy approach. Budget constraints limit a hand-to-hand therapy approach, so that intelligent machines may offer a solution to promote motor recovery and obtain a better understanding of motor control.
Rehabilitation robots which assist people in standing up and in sitting down, support their weight in walking, and avoid their falls were proposed. Hitachi Ltd developed a walker-type power-assisted walking support system which moved smoothly by application of a weak force.
Robot manipulator is driven by a servo motor and controlled by a computer using force/torque and position sensor information. Impedance control technique is selected for the force control.
The knee brace is used to assist in knee control during swing, i.e. to allow patients to achieve adequate knee flexion for toe clearance and adequate knee extension in preparation to heel strike. The torque actuator component is used to encourage patients to actively extend the knee during mid-to-terminal stance, facilitate knee flexion during initial swing, and again encourage knee extension during mid-to-terminal swing.
The knee brace is composed of straps and rigid components for attachment to a leg, with a central hinge mechanism where a gear system is connected. The key features of the device include: a compact, lightweight design with strong, highly tunable torque capabilities, full portability with on board power, control circuitry, sensors, and real-time closed loop computer control for optimizing rehabilitation exercises while in use.
The robot is mounted on the mobile base which is equipped with eight sensors. The sensors are used to detect obstacles and guide the robot into position for a new task. Safety aspects are taken care of by the sensors and bumpers on the hard wire.
The on-board computer holds all necessary information for path planning and programs for different robot tasks, but can, if necessary, receive new information.
Design
The key features of the device include: a compact, light weight design withstrong puma highly tunable torque capabilities,full portability with on board power, control circuitary and sensors. The knee beace is composed of straps and rigid components for attachment to a leg, with a cental hinge mechanism. Robot manipulator is driven by a servo motor and position sensor information.
Key Technologies
Safety
Robots are essentially dangerous and, with their use, absolute safety does not exist. Today, safety should be the prime concern in the design of robots
Interfaces
Industrial robots are operated by specialists, while rehabilitation robots are used by non-specialists with disabilities. A good user-friendly interface is highly desirable for the acceptance of rehabilitation robots, especially for multipurpose robots.
Hence, rehabilitation robotics is an emerging field with many connections to service robotics. However, special attentionmust be paid to the specific needs of individual users and their physical handicaps. Thus, every individual case must be studied with care in order to design and build a system which can be utilized by the user in an efficient way.