This article discusses development of upper extremity exoskeleton devices for robot-aided rehabilitation. Neurological injuries, including stroke and spinal cord injury, typically result in significant motor impairments. These impairments negatively impact an individual’s movement coordination, in turn affecting their ability to function independently. Exoskeleton type devices are now being developed to isolate the motion of individual joints. These devices tend to have higher complexity and reduced range of motion as compared to endpoint manipulators, but they target more selectively the desired joint(s), and they enable more precise data collection about the motion of the patient's limb. Recent designs have focused on systems that match the full range of motion of the targeted joints, aiming towards actuated systems that have both high torque output, to assist patients with muscle tone, and low intrinsic impedance, to minimally perturb independent arm movements. Satisfying all of these requirements while simultaneously maintaining a high priority on patient safety is still an active area of research.
Upper Extremity Exoskeleton for Robot-Aided Rehabilitation
Fabrizio Sergi received his Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering from Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, in Rome, Italy, and is currently a postdoctoral research scientist in the mechanical engineering department at Rice University. His research interests span multiple aspects of human-robot interaction, including the design and subject-adaptive control of highperformance robots for rehabilitation and human augmentation and the use of robots as scientific tools to investigate motor learning. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Amy Blank received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 2012. She is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Rice University in the department of mechanical engineering. Her research interests are in theory and application for design, modeling, and control of robotic manipulators and human-robot interaction. Specific areas of interest include upper-limb prosthetics and rehabilitation, biologically inspired robotic sensing and control strategies, variable-impedance robot control, and user feedback for prosthesis control and teleoperation.
Marcia O’Malley received her mechanical engineering Ph.D. in 2001 from Vanderbilt University. She is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and computer science at Rice University. In addition, she is director of rehabilitation engineering at TIRR-Memorial Hermann Hospital. Her research addresses the issues that arise when humans physically interact with robotic systems, with a focus on training and rehabilitation in virtual environments. In 2008, she received the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching at Rice University. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Sergi, F., Blank, A., and O’Malley, M. (September 1, 2014). "Upper Extremity Exoskeleton for Robot-Aided Rehabilitation." ASME. Mechanical Engineering. September 2014; 136(09): S6–S11. https://doi.org/10.1115/9.2014-Sep-5
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