Design of a Parallel Wrist Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation Post-Stroke

Abstract

A three identical parallel actuated leg exoskeleton having a central fixed leg is designed and controlled to perform wrist flexion and extension and wrist ulnar and radial deviation motions. The motivation behind the development of this robot is that, robot-assisted physical therapies aids in rehabilitation for paralyzed upper limb in stroke-affected patients. The exoskeleton comprises of a base and moving platforms connected independently by legs. The human lower arm acts as the central leg of the exoskeleton to provide the required degrees of freedom. The exoskeleton is attached to the operator's lower arm. As compared to other exoskeletons, this device uses a parallel wrist manipulator which produces spherical motion about a fixed center. In this research, inverse kinematics solution was used for programming to control the parallel wrist for performing rehabilitation task. The majority of the robot parts are manufactured using additive manufacturing technology.