A rehabilitation system for training based on visual feedback distortion

Abstract

Visual feedback distortion has been introduced as a new concept in neurorehabilitation [1]. The patient is encouraged to reach beyond earlier accomplishments in the rehabilitation process. Here, the visual feedback given to the patient slightly underestimates the progress made so far by the patient. We describe a robotic system for stroke rehabilitation based on this new neuropsychologial paradigm. A modular robot design allows mapping hand functions frequently occuring in daily life to corresponding robot configurations and modules. The first device focuses on training of rotational hand movements using an end-effector approach.