title: Design of a self-aligning 3-DOF actuated exoskeleton for diagnosis and training of wrist and forearm after stroke.
abstract: Rehabilitation robotics provides a means of objectively quantifying patient condition before, during and after treatment. This paper describes the design and preliminary validation results of a novel rehabilitation device for the human wrist and forearm. The design features two key aspects: 1) it performs dynamical self-alignment to compensate for misalignment of the human limb and 2) it assists movements within almost the full natural range of motion. Self-alignment is performed by a linkage of parallelograms that allows torque-driven actuation. Advantages are decreased user-device interaction forces and lower don/doff-and setup-times. The full natural range of motion in Flexion/Extension, Radial/Ulnar-deviation and Pronation/Supination allows patients to perform ADL-like exercises during training. Furthermore, in the current design the hand and fingers remain free to perform grabbing activities and the open structure provides simple connection to the patients limb.
authors.forename: J Houdijn
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Beekhuis
authors.forename: Ard J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Westerveld
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van der Kooij
authors.forename: Arno H A
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Stienen
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005542:Forearm / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D014953:Wrist / Q000503:physiopathology