Preliminary mechanical design of NU-Wrist: A 3-DOF self-aligning Wrist rehabilitation robot

Abstract

The use of robotics in rehabilitation area provides a quantifying outcomes on treatment of after stroke patients. This paper presents the preliminary design of a novel exoskeleton robot, called NU-Wrist, for human wrist and forearm rehabilitation. The proposed robot design provides rotation within the anatomical range of human wrist and forearm motions. A novel compliant robot handle link ensures dynamic passive self-alignment of human-robot axes during therapy exercising. The proof-of-concept wrist robot prototype has been manufactured using 3D printing technology for experimental design evaluation. It is shown the proposed NU-Wrist robot design is satisfied to the specified rehabilitation system requirements.