Design and Analysis of an Exoskeleton Robot forIndex Finger Rehabilitation

doi:10.3901/JME.2023.09.040

Abstract

Abstract: To tackle the problems of insufficient precision of operation as well as poor human-machine compatibility of conventional hand rehabilitation robots, a novel underactuated index finger exoskeleton is proposed based on human anatomy to meet the clinical demand. By adopting the combination of 2-UPS parallel mechanism and Bowden wire, two degree-of-freedom active movements of the metacarpophalangeal joint are accomplished, and the operation precision of the robot is enhanced. During the design process, the phalanx is regarded as a part of the human-machine closed chain and the coupling relationship between the flexion/extension and the adduction/abduction movements is discussed to clarify the relationship of the constraint conditions during the rehabilitation training, which improves the coordination characteristics in the movement between human and robot and also the human-machine compatibility. The inverse kinematics of the mechanism is solved, the workspace is analyzed through both the theoretical analysis and simulation verification. A prototype is built to test the robot's performance, and based on the questionnaire of 15 subjects, the comfortability of the device is evaluated by using the analytic hierarchy process. The results show that this robot can satisfy the rehabilitation needs of patients.

Key words: finger rehabilitation, kinematic analysis, workspace, simulation validation, performance test

CLC Number:

TP242

TIAN Yu, WANG Hongbo, LIU Ying, DU Jiazheng, NIU Jianye. Design and Analysis of an Exoskeleton Robot forIndex Finger Rehabilitation[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2023, 59(9): 40-50.

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