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A cable-driven elbow exoskeleton with variable stiffness actuator for upper limb rehabilitation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2024

Lei Yang Open the ORCID record for Lei Yang [Opens in a new window] ,
Fuhai Zhang Open the ORCID record for Fuhai Zhang [Opens in a new window]  and
Yili Fu
Lei Yang
Affiliation:
The State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Fuhai Zhang*
Affiliation:
The State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Yili Fu
Affiliation:
The State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
*
Corresponding author: Fuhai Zhang; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Elbow, with complex physiological structure, plays an important role in upper limb motion which can be assisted with exoskeleton in rehabilitation. However, the stiffness of elbow changes while training which decline the comfort and effect of rehabilitation. Moreover, the rotation axis of elbow is changing which will cause secondary injuries. In this paper, we design an elbow exoskeleton with a variable stiffness actuator and a deviation compensation unit to assist elbow rehabilitation. Firstly, we design a variable stiffness actuator by symmetric actuation principle to adapt the change of elbow stiffness. The parameters of the variable stiffness actuator are optimized by motion simulation. Next, we design a deviation compensation unit to follow the rotation axis deviation outside the horizontal plane. The compensation area is simulated to cover the deviation. Finally, simulation and experiments are carried out to show the performance of our elbow exoskeleton. The workspace can meet the need of daily elbow motion while the variable stiffness actuator can adjust the exoskeleton stiffness as expectation.

Keywords

rehabilitation robotelbow exoskeletonvariable stiffness actuator
Type
Research Article
Information
Robotica , First View , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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