IntelliArm: An exoskeleton for diagnosis and treatment of patients with neurological impairments

Abstract

This paper presents a novel 7 (active) +2 (passive) degrees of freedom (DOF) exoskeleton to achieve effective rehabilitation of upper limbs with neurological impairment. The 7+2 DOF robot was designed for allowing anatomically correct motions in the upper extremity, and for measuring 18 axis forces/torques and 9 DOF positions. A novel four-step integrated rehabilitation approach was developed and tested including 1) accurate and quantitative diagnosis which is not practical to do during manual clinical examinations or with existing robotic devices; 2) strenuous stretching of spastic joints based on the diagnosis and with intelligent control to adjust the stretching velocity constantly according to the joint conditions; 3) voluntary movement exercise to perform realistic functional tasks based on the patient-specific diagnosis, and 4) outcome evaluations which assessed the treatment outcome quantitatively with multiple physiological measures.