Research On A Wearable Rehabilitation Robot Integrated With Function Electrical Stimulation

Stroke is a kind of nerve injury disease, which can cause motor dysfunction.Suffering stroke brings patients not only the inconvenience of the daily lives but also thegreat psychological pressure. A rehabilitation robot can assist stroke patients to conductrehabilitation training, and realize motor function recovery. Rehabilitation robots areexpected to alleviate medical resources tension and resolve the manual training problems.A wearable upper limb rehabilitation robot is powered by safe and compliant pneumaticmuscle actuators while maintaining overall light weight and accommodating energyefficient dynamic form factor. However, the robot is still cumbersome due to heavinessand bulkiness of driving devices made of them, and this limits its clinical use. By use ofsurface electrodes, FES stimulating motor nerves of paralyzed muscles inducesneuroplasticity, which facilitates motor rehabilitation and function reconstruction. FES canalso realize the inhibition of abnormal reflexes and induce active movements.Combination of the wearable upper limb rehabilitation robot and functional electricalstimulation is a promising approach to reduce the driving force of the wearablerehabilitation robot.The main contributions of this thesis list as follows:This thesis is the first from the standpoint of the motor rehabilitation theory statingthat the wearable upper limb rehabilitation robot integrated with functional electricalstimulation can reduce the size and weight of the rehabilitation robot.Then by virtue oflevel principle, pneumatic muscle actuators are redesigned, in order to reduce its driverability and its volume and weight.This thesis completes the design of a functional electrical stimulation feedbackcontrol system platform. The platform bases on Advantech USB-4716multifunctionhigh-speed acquisition card. The card has functions of the signal input and control outputinterface. With the help of Advantech AI and DO control and the PC decision-makingsoftware control, this platform realizes the closed-loop control of functional electricalstimulation. The aim is to improve the control accuracy and safety.This thesis also realizes this preliminary exploration and experimental research of thewearable upper limb rehabilitation robot integrated with functional electrical stimulation.Preliminary experimental results show that the hybrid technology has the potential ofreducing the size and weight of the wearable rehabilitation robot, which has broadapplication prospects.Finally, make a summary of this thesis, and point out what needs to be done next.