A Therapeutic Workout Robot For Lower Limb Rehabilitation

Abstract

This article describes the construction and control of a 3DOF therapeutic exercise robot for patients recovering from spinal cord damage, stroke, muscular disease, or surgery. To control this robot, a rule based Human–Machine Interface (HMI) was built allowing the Robot Manipulator (RM) to learn specific workout motions and do them without a physiotherapist. A patient's reaction to the robot manipulator can also cause the robot to adjust its position. In terms of mobility, the robot manipulator can act as a physiotherapist or therapeutic exercise equipment. Experiments on healthy people have shown that the RM can mimic the physiotherapist’s (PT) manual workouts.