Design of a forearm rehabilitation robot

A robot intended for assisting forearm rehabilitation of patients with neuromuscular disorders was designed. The robot can guide subject's forearm to pronate/supinate along planned seesaw-like or ramp-and-hold trajectories under a passive mode or an active mode. Preliminary tests on three normal subjects revealed that the robot could, in passive mode, guide the relaxed forearm of subjects to move in the planned trajectory and, in active mode, apply a specified torque on the forearm during voluntary movement.