Development of a Self-assisted Rehabilitation System for the Upper Limbs Based on Virtual Reality

We propose a novel self-assisted rehabilitation system based on virtual reality, which is fit for the rehabilitation of mild stroke patients' upper limbs. The system consists of two haptic devices (PHANTOM Omni), an advanced inertial sensor (MTx) and a computer. With the inertial sensor, we can get the accurate orientation of one of the manipulator's hands in real time. At the same time, the haptic devices are used to get the positions of the manipulator's two hands, and they can exert the appropriate forces on the styluses. We have proposed a virtual force model in the system. Based on the virtual force model, the exerted forces on the styluses can be calculated with the position and orientation information of manipulator's hands. With the change of the position and orientation of the manipulator's hands, the magnitude and orientation of the forces will change accordingly. The manipulator operates the styluses of the two haptic devices to control the position and orientation of the virtual object m, so that it can track the virtual object m', which moves and rotates randomly in 4 degree-of-freedoms (DOF). It is expected to improve the agility and strength of manipulator's hands in this way. Furthermore, one hand can be used to assist the other one in the rehabilitation, so the self-assistance character is included in the system. The advantages of high safety, compaction and self-assistance will make the system suitable for home rehabilitation.