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. 2007 Aug 1;12(4):399-407.
doi: 10.1109/TMECH.2007.901928.

Design and Characterization of Hand Module for Whole-Arm Rehabilitation Following Stroke

L Masia  1 , Hermano Igo Krebs, P Cappa, N Hogan
Affiliations

Design and Characterization of Hand Module for Whole-Arm Rehabilitation Following Stroke

L Masia et al. IEEE ASME Trans Mechatron. .

Abstract

In 1991, a novel robot named MIT-MANUS was introduced as a test bed to study the potential of using robots to assist in and quantify the neurorehabilitation of motor function. It introduced a new modality of therapy, offering a highly backdrivable experience with a soft and stable feel for the user. MIT-MANUS proved an excellent fit for shoulder and elbow rehabilitation in stroke patients, showing a reduction of impairment in clinical trials with well over 300 stroke patients. The greatest impairment reduction was observed in the group of muscles exercised. This suggests a need for additional robots to rehabilitate other target areas of the body. Previous work has expanded the planar MIT-MANUS to include an antigravity robot for shoulder and elbow, and a wrist robot. In this paper we present the "missing link": a hand robot. It consists of a single-degree-of-freedom (DOF) mechanism in a novel statorless configuration, which enables rehabilitation of grasping. The system uses the kinematic configuration of a double crank and slider where the members are linked to stator and rotor; a free base motor, i.e., a motor having two rotors that are free to rotate instead of a fixed stator and a single rotatable rotor (dual-rotor statorless motor). A cylindrical structure, made of six panels and driven by the relative rotation of the rotors, is able to increase its radius linearly, moving or guiding the hand of the patients during grasping. This module completes our development of robots for the upper extremity, yielding for the first time a whole-arm rehabilitation experience. In this paper, we will discuss in detail the design and characterization of the device.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Planar, wrist, and antigravity robots. Top photograph shows the planar shoulder-and-elbow robot (2 active DOFs [18]), middle photograph shows the wrist robot (3 active DOFs [19]), and the bottom photograph shows the antigravity robot (1 active DOF [17]).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
MIT hand robot alpha-prototype I.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Double crank and slider mechanism. (a) DC&S module interacting with a human finger. (b) Kinematics of the mechanism. (c) Multiple C&S modules with two panels. (d) Multiple C&S modules with four panels. (e) Multiple C&S modules with eight panels.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
(a) Human hand approximated by a six-segment shape. (b) MIT hand module alpha-prototype II (without rubber case). (c) Particular and section of the torsion spring for hypertonicity compensation. (d) 6-DOF workstation for whole arm rehabilitation.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Unconstrained stability map.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Phase plot of actual torque as function of commanded velocity.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Linear regression for evaluation of friction coefficients.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Top: customized jig for force measurement in different configurations of the device. Bottom: radial force versus angular configuration at different input currents.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Frequency response of the device.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Top: simple interactive game. Bottom: graph starting from the top current, grasp angular displacement, and velocity, respectively.
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
MIT hand module final design. Note that the rubber casing was removed to show the mechanism, and that the Velcro bands are not shown, which keep the hand attached to the device during both grasp and release.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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