Abstract
This article is devoted to the novel method of upper limb rehabilitation support using a dedicated mechatronic system. The mechatronic rehabilitation system’s main advantages are the repeatability of the process and the ability to measure key features and the progress of the therapy. In addition, the assisted therapy standard is the same for each patient. The new method proposed in this article is based on the prediction of the patient’s intentions, understood as the intentions to perform a movement that would be not normally possible due to the patient’s limited motor functions. Determining those intentions is realized based on a comparative analysis of measured kinematic (range of motion, angular velocities, and accelerations) and dynamic parameter values, as well as external loads resulting from the interaction of patients. Appropriate procedures were implemented in the control system, for which verification was conducted via experiments. The aim of the research in the article was to examine whether it is possible to sense the movement intentions of a patient during exercises, using only measured load parameters and kinematic parameters of the movement. In this study, the construction of a mechatronic system prototype equipped with sensory grip to measure the external loads, control algorithms, and the description of experimental studies were presented. The experimental studies of the mechanism were aimed at the verification of the proper operation of the system and were not a clinical trial.
1. Introduction
Nowadays, an increasing number and variety of physical activities can be observed in societies around the world. The consequence of this is a significant increase in the number of injuries, which are difficult to avoid even when only taking into consideration normal life and recreational physical activity. Another phenomenon is the ageing of the population, which combined with adverse health-related changes in lifestyle, bring about an increase in the number of strokes, causing, among other issues, upper limb dysfunction. Therefore, the demand for more effective and faster treatment methods has increased.Rehabilitation is one of the most important areas of medicine. It is intended for people who have lost some of their motor functions due to disease or injury or those whose motor functions are limited due to congenital disabilities. Rehabilitation helps to avoid potential complications associated with eventual surgery. The effectiveness of therapy is significantly increased by using dedicated supporting devices, which also contributes to a reduction in treatment time and greatly enhances the final outcome [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Research concentrating on increasing the effectiveness of upper limb rehabilitation have been carried out in many centers [3], e.g., in Germany in the 1990s [7]. They were based on the pioneering works at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Figure 1a,b) [4,9,10] where, among others, the Bi-Manu-Track system (Figure 1c) was invented and implemented.
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TBI Rehabilitation 