A new adaptive super-twisting control for an exoskeleton robot with dynamic uncertainties

Abstract

Advanced robotic technology has become a significant component in many medical specialties, including in rehabilitation tasks such as physiotherapy. Rehabilitation programs are a practical approach created to assist patients, such as stroke victims, in retrieving their missing functional capacity, obtaining new skills, and enhancing their quality of life. Nevertheless, rehabilitation treatments need intensive and demanding effort by the therapist. Lately, robotic rehabilitation has attracted attention from the scientific community since robots are capable of supplementing the treatments provided by conventional physical therapy. The importance of the rehabilitation robots lies in their capability to provide intensive physiotherapy for a long period of time. The feedback data of the robot allow the physiotherapist to carefully evaluate the patient's performance. A critical aspect is that the design of this class of robots must be harmonious with human anatomy. In order to provide a modern rehabilitation approach for the upper limb, we have developed an exoskeleton robot that is compatible with the human arm configuration and is able to achieve different rehabilitation movements and assistive tasks.