Design and Development of Low Cost Robotic Manipulator for Upper Limb Rehabilitation

Abstract

Stroke is one of the high prevalence diseases around the world. It causes various disorders, but the motor impairments are the most frequent ones. The United States have been found to report around 800k new patients, 600k new cases in Europe, while in Pakistan 350k new patients are being reported annually. In most of these cases, patient loss the movement control of leg, face or arm on either or both sides of the body. In one of the impairments of stroke, the upper limb terminates the required motor activity and the daily life chores of the patient get affected. In such cases of upper limb impairments, medical professionals have prescribed the post-stroke rehabilitation using active motor relearning and muscle treatments. In the 1960s, the post-stroke rehabilitation treatments were provided by clinical therapists, but with the advancement of the technological era, the post-stroke rehabilitation techniques are shifting to automation. Low cost robotic manipulandum has been developed in this work for upper limb rehabilitation. The robotic motion interventions in the motor activity of stroke patient can help in actively relearning of given motor task. The requirements of recurring, interactive, task specific and high intensity training to the patient can be achieved by this device. It can also apply the required force to the paretic limb of the patient so that they can practice multiple joints and the gross motor activity of the upper limb. The assistive, active and passive roles of this robotic manipulandum along with precisely controlled actuators can deliver effective therapy. Moreover, the system can deliver the upper limb rehabilitation solutions for hemi or full paretic patients, and can also be modified to track and record the improvements in the motor control of patients after any other rehabilitation treatment or among the healthy population as well.