ROBOTIC ORTHOSIS FOR UPPER LIMB REHABILITATION

Abstract

Subjects with impaired upper limb have motor limitations that interfere with their ability to independently perform activities of daily living. An alternative rehabilitation consists of Robot Assisted Therapy, a method that increases the intensity, dosage and consequently the effectiveness of the treatment. Therefore, news robotic actuators were developed, external to the device with components manufactured using additive manufacturing, to assist the upper limb rehabilitation. One of them aims to actively perform the finger extension and the flexion passively, using a servo motor coupled to a rope system. At the elbow, one DC-motor combined with a gear-box, was coupled to a system of pulleys and ropes designed to actively perform your flexion and extension movements. Triggering the system was used an Arduino-NANO® and a mobile application for Android. Evaluating the prototype performance, the fingers opening and closing movements were performed, together with the elbow flexion and extension and the gripping of objects in three post-stroke volunteers. It was observed with these actuators the volunteer has the ability to perform the proposed movements, using a torque of 12 Nm for the elbow movement and 0.8 Nm for the fingers opening. The volunteers showed forearm pronation during the tests, causing a torsion in the elbow support structure, making structural reinforcement necessary in the region, which resulted in an increase in the component's weight. After that, the pronation problem was solved and the movements could be performed. Therefore, this work presented new robotic devices composed by more robust motors and actuators, which are located externally to the device structure. Despite not being portable for everyday use, the device was able to perform the movements effectively, being possible to use it exclusively in rehabilitation clinics, so that it helps in the recovery of upper limb.