A mobile robot therapist for under-supervised training with robot/computer assisted motivating systems

Abstract

Robot assisted therapy is a new and promising area in stroke rehabilitation and has shown to be effective in reducing motor impairment, but is a costly solution for home rehabilitation. High medical costs could be reduced if we could improve rehabilitation exercise in unsupervised environments such as the home. Hence, there is an augmented need for a cost effective rehabilitation system that can be used outside the clinic. This paper presents the design concept for an autonomous robotic assistant that is low-cost and effective in engaging the users while assisting them with therapy in any under-supervised area. We investigated how the robot assistant can support TheraDrive, our low-cost therapy system. We present the design methods and a case study demonstrating the arm and video collection system.