Design and evaluation of a double rope rehabilitation robot for sit-to-stand training

Abstract

A double rope rehabilitation robot for sit-to-stand training is developed for human lower limb rehabilitations. Two kinds of training methods are used to ensure the safety control of rehabilitation activities. During the sit-to-stand training, the robot sensor system measures the ground reaction force, center of pressure, tension of ropes, motion track of body trunk, and the rotation angle of each body segment, and then the control system calculates the joint torques of hip, knee and ankle in real time. Six volunteers are involved in the experiment, and the results verify that the rehabilitation robot can ensure the completion of natural track in sit-to-stand training and improve the joint torque. In addition, the user’s motor intention can be identified by the control system, and the lower limb motor function can be trained effectively by encouraging users to exert strength by themselves. Therefore, the developed rehabilitation robot can be used to evaluate human body dynamics parameters and may improve rehabilitation activities in clinical environment.