TY - GEN
T1 - Wrist Exoskeleton Design for Pronation and Supination using Mirrored Movement Control
AU - Fulton, Paula Villa
AU - Lohlein, Simone
AU - Paredes-Acuna, Natalia
AU - Berberich, Nicolas
AU - Cheng, Gordon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Wrist exoskeleton designs are being developed and tailored to support at-home rehabilitation for patients suffering upper extremity impairments. However, wrist exoskeleton design is challenged by the inherent complexity of the human wrist movement. In this work we propose a new portable exoskeleton mechanism for supporting pronation and supination, which is controlled by the opposing arm in a mirrored fashion. We make use of a gear-based mechanism and soft wearable to translate the motor's torque onto the subject's forearm to provide wrist rotation. In this paper, we analyze the exoskeleton's range of motion and accuracy of mechanical movement through posture detection and tracking. Our results show a consistent range of motion from 0° to 171.16°, surpassing the minimum required range of motion for activities of daily living (between 40° and 140°). Finally, we measure muscle activity through sEMG as an indication of assistance to the wearer. The sEMG activity recorded under different conditions shows the assistive property of the device with an average reduction in muscular activity of 20.8% for the Pronator Teres muscle and of 51.7% for the Supinator muscle.
AB - Wrist exoskeleton designs are being developed and tailored to support at-home rehabilitation for patients suffering upper extremity impairments. However, wrist exoskeleton design is challenged by the inherent complexity of the human wrist movement. In this work we propose a new portable exoskeleton mechanism for supporting pronation and supination, which is controlled by the opposing arm in a mirrored fashion. We make use of a gear-based mechanism and soft wearable to translate the motor's torque onto the subject's forearm to provide wrist rotation. In this paper, we analyze the exoskeleton's range of motion and accuracy of mechanical movement through posture detection and tracking. Our results show a consistent range of motion from 0° to 171.16°, surpassing the minimum required range of motion for activities of daily living (between 40° and 140°). Finally, we measure muscle activity through sEMG as an indication of assistance to the wearer. The sEMG activity recorded under different conditions shows the assistive property of the device with an average reduction in muscular activity of 20.8% for the Pronator Teres muscle and of 51.7% for the Supinator muscle.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124699318&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ICAR53236.2021.9659397
DO - 10.1109/ICAR53236.2021.9659397
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85124699318
T3 - 2021 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2021
SP - 575
EP - 580
BT - 2021 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2021
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2021
Y2 - 6 December 2021 through 10 December 2021
ER -