Kinematic Approach for 4 DoF Upper Limb Robotic Exoskeleton in Complex Rehabilitation Tasks

Abstract

A kinematic approach for a 4 degree-of-freedom (DoF) upper-limb robotic exoskeleton is presented in this study. The aim is to reproduce simple sequence of movements frequently performed in daily activities, such as shoulder flexion/extension and adduction/abduction, arm internal/external rotation, elbow flexion/extension and wrist pronation/supination. The kinematic model obtained through an analytical approach is presented. Simulations of several rehabilitation tasks performed by our exoskeleton show that this approach is able to carry out complex movements in the articular and Cartesian spaces with view of future implementation, using point-to-point, coordinated and continuous trajectories.