title: Design of a 6-DOF upper limb rehabilitation exoskeleton with parallel actuated joints.
abstract: In this paper, a 6-DOF wearable upper limb exoskeleton with parallel actuated joints which perfectly mimics human motions is proposed. The upper limb exoskeleton assists the movement of physically weak people. Compared with the existing upper limb exoskeletons which are mostly designed using a serial structure with large movement space but small stiffness and poor wearable ability, a prototype for motion assistance based on human anatomy structure has been developed in our design. Moreover, the design adopts balls instead of bearings to save space, which simplifies the structure and reduces the cost of the mechanism. The proposed design also employs deceleration processes to ensure that the transmission ratio of each joint is coincident.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province 150006, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province 150006, China.
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province 150006, China.
authors.forename: Yanhe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province 150006, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province 150006, China.
authors.forename: Hegao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004551:Elbow Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009989:Orthotic Devices; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014955:Wrist Joint / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Upper limb; exoskeleton; parallel actuated joints; rehabilitation