The design and development of an upper limb assistive technology

Using modern robotic and biosignal integrated technologies; patients with limited upperlimb mobility due to paresis, may finally have the opportunity to regain normal movement. An effective yet portable upper limb assistive orthosis has not yet been developed to rehabilitate these patients. A portable device would allow users to continue their rehabilitation without therapist supervision and work at their own pace. This project aims to develop a working portable exoskeleton which assists flexion and extension of the elbow joint in patients who are unable to confidently move their arm. The elbow joint was chosen as it can be simplified to roughly one degree of freedom. The project will involve the design of the orthotic system using the modelling CAD software Pro|ENGINEER® while the mechanical analysis and simulation will be performed using MATLAB® Simulink. In the future, the project will be expanded into the design and development of a full arm device which caters for shoulder mobility as well as hand and wrist assistance in order to provide complete rehabilitation and assistance to patients with very limited control of their upper limbs.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

msc

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters-pg

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Strathclyde

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Di Donato, Stefan

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Lakany, Heba
• Yao, Wei

DOI

10.48730/7pzt-tc09

Identifier

T13668

Author Identifier

20128079

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:strathclyde:zp38wc617