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Development of a powered variable-stiffness exoskeleton device for elbow rehabilitation

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Abstract

Robot-assisted movement training by means of exoskeleton devices has been proven to be an effective method for post-stroke patients to recover their motor function. However, in order to be used in home-based rehabilitation, the kinematic structure of a wearable exoskeleton device should provide portability and make allowances for the natural joint range of motion for the user. Additionally, the actuated stiffness of the target joint is desired to be adjustable in accordance with the specific impairment level of the patient’s upper limb. In this paper, we present a novel portable exoskeleton device which could provide support for rehabilitation patients with variable actuated stiffness in the elbow joint. It has five passive degrees of freedom to guarantee the user’s natural joint range of motion and intra-subject variability, as well as an integrated variable stiffness actuator (VSA) which can adjust the joint stiffness independently by moving the pivot position. An elbow power-assist trial with different actuated joint stiffnesses was tested on a healthy subject to evaluate the functionality of the proposed device. By regulating the joint stiffness, the proposed device could provide variable power assistance for the wearer’s elbow movements.

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Acknowledgments

This research is partly supported by National High Tech. Research and Development Program of China (No.2015AA043202), and SPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15 K2120.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Kagawa University, 2217-20 Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa, 761-0396, Japan

    Yi Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Convergence Medical Engineering System and Healthcare Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, No. 5, Zhongguancun South Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China

    Shuxiang Guo

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Design, Kagawa University, 2217-20 Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa, 761-0396, Japan

    Shuxiang Guo, Hideyuki Hirata & Hidenori Ishihara

  4. Department of Neurological Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, 1750-1 Miki-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa, 761-0701, Japan

    Takashi Tamiya

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  1. Yi Liu
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  2. Shuxiang Guo
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  3. Hideyuki Hirata
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  4. Hidenori Ishihara
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  5. Takashi Tamiya
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Correspondence to Yi Liu or Shuxiang Guo.

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Liu, Y., Guo, S., Hirata, H. et al. Development of a powered variable-stiffness exoskeleton device for elbow rehabilitation. Biomed Microdevices 20, 64 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-018-0312-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-018-0312-6

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