The Design of a Low-Cost Therapy Robot for Hand Rehabilitation of a Post-Stroke Patient

Abstract

A robot technology has been proven effective in recovering a post-stroke patient. However, the existing commercial robot therapy is expensive so that it cannot be afforded by the majority of people in developing and poor countries. Therefore, a robot that is affordable but effective and feasible for therapy is needed. This paper presents a development of a low-cost therapy robot for rehabilitation of upper extremity limb or hand. The cost production can be reduced using a cheap but strong material. In addition, a simple computer game was developed along with the robot to conduct a continuous passive motion (CPM) exercises. In this paper, the therapy was tested on ten healthy subjects. Based on the survey conducted on the ten subjects after doing therapy simulation indicates that the robot therapy is worth to be implemented for rehabilitation of the post-stroke patient.