Path Reference Generation for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation with Kinematic Model

An upper-limb kinematic model is studied for generating a path reference for rehabilitation. An eight-degrees-of-freedom (8-DOF) model of the upper-limb is presented and a path reference is generated based on the model. The path reference is generated with regards to the subject parameters, such as the length from the chest to shoulder, the length of upper arm, and the length of lower arm that can be implemented for individual subjects. Different with trajectory generation, the time is not considered when a subject is asked to follow the desired movement. In other words, the subject needs to follow an ideal movement with no constraints to the time when a configuration of upper-limb should be achieved. The implementation of the path reference generation and the comparison between the path reference and the actual measurement of a healthy subject is conducted performing shoulder forward flexion motion. The result shows the potential use of the proposed method for upper limb rehabilitation.