Robotic design and modelling of medical lower extremity exoskeletons

This study aims to explain the development of the robotic Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (LEE) systems between 1960 and 2019 in chronological order. The scans performed in the exoskeleton system’s design have shown that a modeling program, such as AnyBody, and OpenSim, should be used first to observe the design and software animation, followed by the mechanical development of the system using sensors and motors. Also, the use of OpenSim and AnyBody musculoskeletal system software has been proven to play an essential role in designing the human-exoskeleton by eliminating the high costs and risks of the mechanical designs. Furthermore, these modeling systems can enable rapid optimization of the LEE design by detecting the forces and torques falling on the human muscles

A Review of Pneumatic Actuators Used for the Design of Medical Simulators and Medical Tools

International audienc

Design And Development of A Powered Pediatric Lower-limb Orthosis

Gait impairments from disorders such as cerebral palsy are important to address early in life. A powered lower-limb orthosis can offer therapists a rehabilitation option using robot-assisted gait training. Although there are many devices already available for the adult population, there are few powered orthoses for the pediatric population. The aim of this dissertation is to embark on the first stages of development of a powered lower-limb orthosis for gait rehabilitation and assistance of children ages 6 to 11 years with walking impairments from cerebral palsy. This dissertation presents the design requirements of the orthosis, the design and fabrication of the joint actuators, and the design and manufacturing of a provisional version of the pediatric orthosis. Preliminary results demonstrate the capabilities of the joint actuators, confirm gait tracking capabilities of the actuators in the provisional orthosis, and evaluate a standing balance control strategy on the under-actuated provisional orthosis in simulation and experiment. In addition, this dissertation presents the design methodology for an anthropometrically parametrized orthosis, the fabrication of the prototype powered orthosis using this design methodology, and experimental application of orthosis hardware in providing walking assistance with a healthy adult. The presented results suggest the developed orthosis hardware is satisfactorily capable of operation and functional with a human subject. The first stages of development in this dissertation show encouraging results and will act as a foundation for further iv development of the device for rehabilitation and assistance of children with walking impairments

A Review Study for Robotic Exoskeletons Rehabilitation Devices

Nowadays, robotic exoskeletons demonstrated great abilities to replace traditional rehabilitation processes for activating neural abilities performed by physiotherapists. The main aim of this review study is to determine a state-of-the-art robotic exoskeleton that can be used for the rehabilitation of the lower limb of people who have mobile disabilities as a result of stroke and musculoskeletal conditions. The study presented the anatomy of the lower limb and the biomechanics of human gait to explain the mechanism of the limb, which helps in constructing a robotic exoskeleton. A state-of-the-art review of more than 100 articles related to robotic exoskeletons and their constructions, functionality, and rehabilitation capabilities are accurately implemented. Moreover, the study included a review of upper limb rehabilitation that has been studied locally and successfully applied to patients who exhibited significant improvements. Results of recent studies herald an abundant future for robotic exoskeletons used in the rehabilitation of the lower extremity. Significant improvement in the mechanism and design, as well as the quality, were observed. Also, impressive results were obtained from the performance when used by patients. This study concludes that working and improving the robotic devices continuously in accordance with the cases are necessary to be treated with the best results and the lowest cost

Physical Diagnosis and Rehabilitation Technologies

The book focuses on the diagnosis, evaluation, and assistance of gait disorders; all the papers have been contributed by research groups related to assistive robotics, instrumentations, and augmentative devices

Anthropomorphic surgical system for soft tissue robot-assisted surgery

Over the past century, abdominal surgery has seen a rapid transition from open procedures to less invasive methods such as laparoscopy and robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (R-A MIS). These procedures have significantly decreased blood loss, postoperative morbidity and length of hospital stay in comparison with open surgery. R-A MIS has offered refined accuracy and more ergonomic instruments for surgeons, further minimising trauma to the patient.This thesis aims to investigate, design and prototype a novel system for R-A MIS that will provide more natural and intuitive manipulation of soft tissues and, at the same time, increase the surgeon's dexterity. The thesis reviews related work on surgical systems and discusses the requirements for designing surgical instrumentation. From the background research conducted in this thesis, it is clear that training surgeons in MIS procedures is becoming increasingly long and arduous. Furthermore, most available systems adopt a design similar to conventional laparoscopic instruments or focus on different techniques with debatable benefits. The system proposed in this thesis not only aims to reduce the training time for surgeons but also to improve the ergonomics of the procedure.In order to achieve this, a survey was conducted among surgeons, regarding their opinions on surgical training, surgical systems, how satisfied they are with them and how easy they are to use. A concept for MIS robotic instrumentation was then developed and a series of focus group meetings with surgeons were run to discuss it. The proposed system, named microAngelo, is an anthropomorphic master-slave system that comprises a three-digit miniature hand that can be controlled using the master, a three-digit sensory exoskeleton. While multi-fingered robotic hands have been developed for decades, none have been used for surgical operations. As the system has a human centred design, its relation to the human hand is discussed. Prototypes of both the master and the slave have been developed and their design and mechanisms is demonstrated. The accuracy and repeatability of the master as well as the accuracy and force capabilities of the slave are tested and discussed

Haptics Rendering and Applications

There has been significant progress in haptic technologies but the incorporation of haptics into virtual environments is still in its infancy. A wide range of the new society's human activities including communication, education, art, entertainment, commerce and science would forever change if we learned how to capture, manipulate and reproduce haptic sensory stimuli that are nearly indistinguishable from reality. For the field to move forward, many commercial and technological barriers need to be overcome. By rendering how objects feel through haptic technology, we communicate information that might reflect a desire to speak a physically- based language that has never been explored before. Due to constant improvement in haptics technology and increasing levels of research into and development of haptics-related algorithms, protocols and devices, there is a belief that haptics technology has a promising future

Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Hybrid Wheeled-Leg Exploration Rover in the Context of Multi-Robot Systems

With this dissertation, the electromechanic design, implementation, locomotion control, and experimental evaluation of a novel type of hybrid wheeled-leg exploration rover are presented. The actively articulated suspension system of the rover is the basis for advanced locomotive capabilities of a mobile exploration robot. The developed locomotion control system abstracts the complex kinematics of the suspension system and provides platform control inputs usable by autonomous behaviors or human remote control. Design and control of the suspension system as well as experimentation with the resulting rover are in the focus of this thesis. The rover is part of a heterogeneous modular multi-robot exploration system with an aspired sample return mission to the lunar south pole or currently hard-to-access regions on Mars. The multi-robot system pursues a modular and reconfigurable design methodology. It combines heterogeneous robots with different locomotion capabilities for enhanced overall performance. Consequently, the design of the multi-robot system is presented as the frame of the rover developments. The requirements for the rover design originating from the deployment in a modular multi-robot system are accentuated and summarized in this thesis