Design and Control of 2DoF Wearable Robot Arm for Rehabilitation

Robotic therapy is gaining more popularity because of its proven success in regaining upper extremity movements and loco-motor skills, especially in stroke patients. In this work, the development of a low cost 2 degrees of freedoms (DoF) wearable robot arm is presented. This robotic exoskeleton device is aimed at rehabilitation of upper extremity disabilities caused by stroke or other brain ailments. The robot arm allows for flexion-extension movements at the shoulder and elbow joints to assist in targeted therapy of these important upper limb articulations. Notably, the device boasts several design enhancements over its low cost predecessors. Problems with bulky design and power losses due to its own inertia, in particular, have been effectively addressed, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient system. In addition to design and manufacture, Sliding mode based Cartesian compliance control simulation of the devices and a real-time joint space PID control results are presented in this paper.