An internet of things framework based on upper limb rehabilitation robots for rehabilitation

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare is anticipated to enable a series of services by connecting all kinds of smart devices. Rehabilitation of stroke survivors has been increasing in importance in recent years with the increasing occurrence of stroke. The rehabilitation robots are becoming part of the rehabilitation medicine in the future. With the development of technology, various sensors have been added to the rehabilitation robots to continuously measure forces, speed, accuracy, repeatability and temporal-spatial features of movement, even the physiological information of the patient, providing the basis for the sensor layer of the Internet of Things. In addition, the employ of wireless communication modules in rehabilitation robots enables the connection between the sensor layer and the network layer of the Internet of Things. So, Rehabilitation robots can not only help patients recover from rehabilitation training, but also collect data and upload data to the cloud platform to help doctors accurately and timely grasp the patient’s rehabilitation status. Through the Internet, doctors can monitor remotely the sort, strength, and duration of patients’ rehabilitation training in the home and community and provide the optimal prescription by adjusting frequency and intensity of rehabilitation training as feedback. Obviously, the inclusion of rehabilitation robots in the IoT system can better provide patients with rehabilitation services, and provide the physician with quantitative assessment data. This paper mainly presents the design and development of building an Internet of Things framework based on upper limb rehabilitation robots for rehabilitation. The architecture and function of the platform are described in detail, and the deployment and test of the development are outlined.