Abstract
Background: Wearable power assist robot is a new type of electromechanical integration device designed to imitate the biological exoskeleton. The device can be worn by the user, providing the user with body support, movement assistance and power-assisted functions. In recent years, patents suggest that wearable assist robots have been widely used in the field of human limb rehabilitation. The patients can use the robot to carry out effective functional rehabilitation training and achieve the goal of promoting limb function recovery and improving activities of daily living.
Objective: Based on clinical rehabilitation medicine theory, and aiming at helping the patients with hemiplegia, a 7-DOF wearable rehabilitation robot for an upper limb is designed.
Methods: Three-dimensional model of the rehabilitation robot is created in Pro/E. According to D-H transformation, the kinematics model is established. Kinematics simulation is carried out by the Matlab programming.
Results: Both of the forward and inverse analysis of kinematics are presented. The wrist centroid curves of displacement, velocity and acceleration are obtained, respectively. The results prove that the movement of the robot is smooth and the robot scheme is feasible.
Conclusion: The structure design and motion analysis process of the robot can provide a reference for other wearable limb rehabilitation device.
Keywords: Kinematics analysis, movement simulation, pneumatic muscle, rehabilitation robot, structure design, wearable device.
Graphical Abstract