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.

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Development of a Mechatronic System for the Mirror Therapy

For patients with upper limb dysfunction after stroke, robot-assisted rehabilitation training plays an important role in functional recovery. The existing upper limb rehabilitation robots have some problems, such as complex mechanisms, insufficient compliance, and can only realize the rehabilitation training of shoulder and elbow joints in the horizontal plane. This research proposes a novel end-effector upper limb rehabilitation robot with three degrees of freedom. Two horizontal rotation freedoms are driven by motors and one vertical translation freedom is driven by a pneumatic cylinder. So it can realize the spatial rehabilitation training of shoulder and elbow joints. The rotation and translation transformation of the robot can be represented by a dual quaternion, which is concise in form and clear in the physical meaning. Therefore, this article adopts dual quaternions to complete the robot’s kinematics modeling, inverse kinematics calculation, and terminal spiral motion trajectory planning. To improve the low-speed moving performance of the spiral motion, a sliding mode control strategy plus feedforward compensation is employed to control the displacement of the cylinder. Experiments show that the robot can realize proximal joints training and has good position tracking accuracy (tracking error is within 2 mm) with smoothness under the proposed control strategy, which can guarantee the accuracy and comfort of passive rehabilitation training, contributing to restoring the function of the impairment upper limbs.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/17298806221118855

A novel end-effector upper limb rehabilitation robot: Kinematics modeling based on dual quaternion and low-speed spiral motion tracking control

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the frontopolar cortex (FPC) during mental arithmetic tasks by 0.2 mA electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation of the trigeminal nerve's ophthalmic branch. Materials and Methods: This study was a crossover, randomized clinical trial. The participants (19) were divided into a control and an EA group, and both groups performed 10-minute mental-arithmetic tasks. Subsequently, the control group was seated for 5 minutes, while the EA group received EA stimulated at 0.2 mA, 100 Hz, for 5 minutes. Then, the mental-arithmetic tasks were repeated. The primary outcome was oxygenated hemoglobin (OxyHb) levels in the FPC during the mental-arithmetic tasks. Data from 15 of the original 19 participants were analyzed. Results: EA stimulation elevated OxyHb levels significantly. In the right FPC, this occurred in channel (Ch) 4 and 6 (P < 0.05) and Ch 3 (P < 0.01). In the left FPC, this occurred in Ch 10 and 15 (P < 0.05) and Ch 11 and 14 (P < 0.01). EA stimulation affected Ch 11 especially. There was also a significant positive correlation between OxyHb levels during the mental-arithmetic tasks in Ch 11 and changes in the numbers of answers and correct answers (ρ = 0.48; P < 0.05). Conclusions: These results suggest that 0.2 mA EA stimulation increased OxyHb levels in the FPC, particularly associated with increased CBF in the left FPC. Furthermore, the OxyHb levels in the left FPC positively correlated with the changes in the numbers of answers and correct answers. 

Electroacupuncture on the Ophthalmic Branch of the Trigeminal Nerve Affects Cerebral Blood Flow in the Frontopolar Cortex During Mental Arithmetic: A Randomized Crossover Trial

Type Synthesis of 5-DOF Hybrid (Parallel-Serial) Manipulators Designed from Open Kinematic Chains

Various robotic rehabilitation devices have been developed for acute stroke patients to ease therapist’s efforts and provide high-intensity training, which resulted in improved strength and functio...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/17298814211012325

A Novel 3-RRR Spherical Parallel Instrument for Daily Living Emulation (SPINDLE) for Functional Rehabilitation of Patients with Stroke:

Cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) changes measured with simultaneous tDCS-MRI in healthy adults

Task-oriented training is crucial in the rehabilitation of patients with paresis to maximize the training effect of target tasks. To train the stroke patients with the closest form of activities in daily living, a new type of rehabilitation strategy is suggested that can train rotational tasks similar to active daily living tasks. The device is structured with a 3-RRR parallel manipulator to create three-dimensional rotations in a large workspace and interact with the user as an external object. The design parameter is optimized in two steps using the conventional global conditioning index and the global minimum active load to ensure controllability and force transmission through the device. The kinematic structure is verified with the motion capture system and encoders on motors. We envision using this compact table-top device emulating physical characteristics of daily living tasks to enhance the motor performance of stroke patients and their quality of lives.

Peidong He

Papers

A Novel 3-RRR Spherical Parallel Instrument for Daily Living Emulation (SPINDLE) for Functional Rehabilitation of Patients with Stroke:

Cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) changes measured with simultaneous tDCS-MRI in healthy adults

Spherical Parallel Instrument for Daily Living Emulation (SPINDLE) to Restore Motor Function of Stroke Survivors