Design and Performance Evaluation of a Novel Wearable Parallel Mechanism for Ankle Rehabilitation

Abstract

Repetitive and intensive physiotherapy is indispensable to patients with ankle disabilities. Increasingly robot-assisted technology has been employed in the treatment to reduce the burden of the therapists and the related costs of the patients. This paper proposes a configuration of a wearable parallel mechanism to supplement the equipment selection for ankle rehabilitation. The kinematic analysis, i.e., the inverse position solution and Jacobian matrices, is elaborated. Several performance indices, including the reachable workspace index, motion isotropy index, force transfer index, and maximum torque index, are developed based on the derived kinematic solution. Moreover, according to the proposed kinematic configuration and wearable design concept, the mechanical structure that contains a basic machine-drive system and a multi-model position/force data collection system is designed in detail. Finally, the results of the performance evaluation indicate that the wearable parallel robot possesses sufficient motion isotropy, high force transfer performance, and large maximum torque performance within a large workspace that can cover all possible range of motion of human ankle complex, and is suitable for ankle rehabilitation.

Patient-Specific Exercises with the Development of an End-Effector Type Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robot

“…Robot-assisted rehabilitation training contributes significantly to the effectiveness of treatment, and they can alleviate manual therapy problems in terms of labor intensiveness, precision, and subjectivity [ 37 ]. As the end-effector type ULRR has the advantages of simple structures and less complex control algorithms and can avoid abnormal motion and posture of the target anatomical joints and specific muscles [ 34 ], we developed a three-DOF end-effector type ULRR with a one-DOF vertical movement and a parallelogram mechanism-based two-DOF horizontal movement.…”

Оңалтуға Арналған Параллель Робот Манипуляторлардың Қазіргі Жағдайы

“…Соңғысын 2 еркіндік дәрежесі бар 3-RUS/U резервтік механизмге айналдыруға болады, ол кезде аяқты қоршап тұрған резервтік жетек істен шығарылады [39]. Сонымен қатар оңалтуға арналған параллель робот манипуляторлардың келесідей түрлері бар: 3o суретте көрсетілген 3 еркіндік дәрежесі бар 3-PRS жіліншік табан буынын оңалту манипуляторы [40][41][42]; және де 3 еркіндік дәрежесі бар 4р суретте көрсетілген 2-UPS/RRR роботы [43][44][45][46]. Барлық аталған оңалтуға арналған параллель робот манипуляторлар үшін пневматикалық жетек жиі қолданылатын қозғалтқыш пневматикалық бұлшықет (PMA) болып табылады.…”

State of the art in parallel ankle rehabilitation robot: a systematic review

“…4n [37,38], which can also be changed into a 3-RUS/U redundant mechanism with 2-DOFs when the redundant actuator of the constraint limb is self-locked [39]; the 3-DOF 3-PRS parallel manipulator for ankle rehabilitation shown in Fig. 4o [40][41][42]; and the 3-DOF 2-UPS/RRR PARR shown in Fig. 4p [43][44][45][46]. For all these PARRs, the most commonly used actuator of pneumatic-driven PARRs is the pneumatic muscle actuator (PMA) due to its superiority in terms of low weight and high power/volume ratios, which can provide an intrinsic softness to make joint compliance possible [47,70].…”

“…Therefore, a designed PARR must have a sufficient workspace and excellent kinematic performance, such as velocity transfer performance and force transfer performance. Because the AJC has 3-DOFs, many PARRs are designed with 3-DOFs, such as the PARRs in [24,32,34,35,37,40,[43][44][45], to satisfy all the motion of the AJC. Some PARRs are designed to have only 2-DOFs to simplify the mechanism by eliminating the AD/AB motion, such as the PARRs in [25,55].…”