Design, Fabrication, and Control of an Upper Arm Exoskeleton Assistive Robot

Stroke is the primary cause of permanent impairment and neurological damage in the United States and Europe. Annually, about fifteen million individuals worldwide suffer from stroke, which kills about one third of them. For many years, it was believed that major recovery can be achieved only in the first six months after a stroke. More recent research has demonstrated that even many years after a stroke, significant improvement is not out of reach. However, economic pressures, the aging population, and lack of specialists and available human resources can interrupt therapy, which impedes full recovery of patients after being discharged from hospital following initial rehabilitation. Robotic devices, and in particular portable robots that provide rehabilitation therapy at home and in clinics, are a novel way not only to optimize the cost of therapy but also to let more patients benefit from rehabilitation for a longer time. Robots used for such purposes should be smaller, lighter and more affordable than the robots currently used in clinics and hospitals. The common human-machine interaction design criteria such as work envelopes, safety, comfort, adaptability, space limitations, and weight-to-force ratio must still be taken into consideration.;In this work a light, wearable, affordable assistive robot was designed and a controller to assist with an activity of daily life (ADL) was developed. The mechanical design targeted the most vulnerable group of the society to stroke, based on the average size and age of the patients, with adjustability to accommodate a variety of individuals. The novel mechanical design avoids motion singularities and provides a large workspace for various ADLs. Unlike similar exoskeleton robots, the actuators are placed on the patient\u27s torso and the force is transmitted through a Bowden cable mechanism. Since the actuators\u27 mass does not affect the motion of the upper extremities, the robot can be more agile and more powerful. A compact novel actuation method with high power-to-weight ratio called the twisted string actuation method was used. Part of the research involved selection and testing of several string compositions and configurations to compare their suitability and to characterize their performance. Feedback sensor count and type have been carefully considered to keep the cost of the system as low as possible. A master-slave controller was designed and its performance in tracking the targeted ADL trajectory was evaluated for one degree of freedom (DOF). An outline for proposed future research will be presented

Kinematics and Robot Design IV, KaRD2021

This volume collects the papers published on the special issue “Kinematics and Robot Design IV, KaRD2021” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/special_issues/KaRD2021), which is the forth edition of the KaRD special-issue series, hosted by the open-access journal “MDPI Robotics”. KaRD series is an open environment where researchers can present their works and discuss all the topics focused on the many aspects that involve kinematics in the design of robotic/automatic systems. Kinematics is so intimately related to the design of robotic/automatic systems that the admitted topics of the KaRD series practically cover all the subjects normally present in well-established international conferences on “mechanisms and robotics”. KaRD2021, after the peer-review process, accepted 12 papers. The accepted papers cover some theoretical and many design/applicative aspects

Advanced Mobile Robotics: Volume 3

Mobile robotics is a challenging field with great potential. It covers disciplines including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, cognitive science, and social science. It is essential to the design of automated robots, in combination with artificial intelligence, vision, and sensor technologies. Mobile robots are widely used for surveillance, guidance, transportation and entertainment tasks, as well as medical applications. This Special Issue intends to concentrate on recent developments concerning mobile robots and the research surrounding them to enhance studies on the fundamental problems observed in the robots. Various multidisciplinary approaches and integrative contributions including navigation, learning and adaptation, networked system, biologically inspired robots and cognitive methods are welcome contributions to this Special Issue, both from a research and an application perspective

Robotics 2010

Without a doubt, robotics has made an incredible progress over the last decades. The vision of developing, designing and creating technical systems that help humans to achieve hard and complex tasks, has intelligently led to an incredible variety of solutions. There are barely technical fields that could exhibit more interdisciplinary interconnections like robotics. This fact is generated by highly complex challenges imposed by robotic systems, especially the requirement on intelligent and autonomous operation. This book tries to give an insight into the evolutionary process that takes place in robotics. It provides articles covering a wide range of this exciting area. The progress of technical challenges and concepts may illuminate the relationship between developments that seem to be completely different at first sight. The robotics remains an exciting scientific and engineering field. The community looks optimistically ahead and also looks forward for the future challenges and new development

Robot Manipulators

Robot manipulators are developing more in the direction of industrial robots than of human workers. Recently, the applications of robot manipulators are spreading their focus, for example Da Vinci as a medical robot, ASIMO as a humanoid robot and so on. There are many research topics within the field of robot manipulators, e.g. motion planning, cooperation with a human, and fusion with external sensors like vision, haptic and force, etc. Moreover, these include both technical problems in the industry and theoretical problems in the academic fields. This book is a collection of papers presenting the latest research issues from around the world

Payload analysis and control of manipulators for human interactive environments

Esta tesis doctoral presenta los resultados de simulaciones numéricas y algunos análisis experimentales de tres aspectos principales: el modelamiento dinámico de manipuladores de múltiples grados de libertad (GdL) (n 2 GdL), el cálculo de la capacidad dinámica de carga asociada al manejo de dicha carga, y el análisis y diseño de controladores no lineales incluyendo el Control Adaptativo por Desfalsificación (CAD). Se desarrollaron análisis de dos (2) casos de estudio: el SCORBOT ER V PLUS fabricado por Intelitech Corp. de 5 grados de libertad y el manipulador redundante de 7 grados de libertad conocido como el Whole Arm Manipulator (WAM) fabricado por Barrett Technology Inc. y que cuenta con características de seguridad intrínseca, manipulación inversa y docilidad, y es aplicable en la interacción humano-robot (IHR). Inicialmente, se calculó y validó el modelado dinámico de los casos de estudio. Los modelos dinámicos inverso y directo del SCORBOT ER V PLUS fueron validados numéricamente. Luego, una validación experimental para el WAM presenta una comparación entre los datos numéricos y experimentales, identificando la necesidad de un mejor modelo de la fricción seca. Después, se propuso y evaluó una metodología para el cálculo de la capacidad dinámica de carga en el espacio de trabajo completo de manipuladores para diferentes tipos de controladores. Luego, para el análisis del Control Adaptativo por Desfalsificación con factor de olvido para manipuladores de múltiples grados de libertad, se realizó una comparación con un controlador adaptativo tradicional basado en el modelo y se aplicó al modelo del manipulador SCORBOR ER V PLUS. Finalmente, la técnica de Control por Desfalsificación fue exitosamente aplicada al modelo del WAM. En conclusión, este trabajo puede contribuir al uso de técnicas de control no lineal avanzado y manejo de carga para manipuladores redundantes con manipulación inversa, aplicables en ambientes de interacción con humanosAbstract : This doctoral thesis presents the results of numerical simulations and some experimental analysis of three main topics: the dynamical modeling of multiple degree of freedom (MDoF) manipulators (n 2 DoF), dynamic load carrying capacity computation (DLCC) for the payload handling issue and nonlinear control analysis and design including Unfalsified Adaptive Control (UAC). We performed analysis of two (2) cases of study: the 5 DoF SCORBOT ER V PLUS manufactured by Intelitech Corp. and the 7 DoF redundant Whole Arm Manipulator (WAM) manufactured by Barrett Technology Inc. with intrinsic safety, backdrivable and compliant characteristics and suitable for human-robot interaction (HRI). Initially, we computed and validated the dynamical model of the cases of study. The inverse and direct dynamical models of the SCORBOT ER V PLUS were numerically validated. Then, an experimental validation of inverse dynamical model of the WAM presents a comparison between numerical and experimental data, identifying the need for better friction models. After that, we proposed and evaluated a methodology for DLCC computation in the entire workspace of manipulators for different types of controllers. Then, for the analysis of the data-driven UAC with fading memory for multiple DoF manipulators, we performed a comparison with a traditional modelbased Adaptive Controller and applied to the SCORBOT ER V PLUS manipulator. Finally, the Unfalsified Control technique was successfully applied to the WAM model for a similar simulation setup. In conclusion, this work may contribute to the use of advanced nonlinear control and payload handling techniques for redundant backdrivable multiple DoF manipulators, suitable for human interactive environmentsDoctorad

A Cable-Driven Pelvic Robot: Human Gait Adaptation and Rehabilitation Studies

Walking is a state of continuous imbalance that requires a complex control strategy and cyclic activation of leg muscles to achieve successful inter‐limb coordination. Neuro‐musculoskeletal impairments, such as stroke, cerebral palsy, and spinal cord injury, affect one's ability to voluntarily contract muscles to normal amplitudes. This change in muscle activation pattern reduces the joint level torque generation and as a result impairs the ability to walk normally. Technological advances over the last two decades have resulted in the development of rigid link robotic exoskeletons that aim to improve gait deficits. These devices reduce repetitive and manual labor of therapists while providing objective measurement of the therapy during the gait rehabilitation. Despite the development of these robotic devices, no consensus has emerged about the superiority of robot-aided gait rehabilitation over the traditional methods. This may be because of the inherent complexity of the human musculoskeletal system and the constraints that rigid linked systems impose on the human movement. In this work, we present a cable-driven Active Tethered Pelvic Assist Device (A-TPAD) for gait rehabilitation that can apply a controlled external wrench to the human pelvis in any direction and at any point of the gait cycle for a specified duration. The A-TPAD does not add undesirable inertia on the user and does not constrain the user's motion during training. The A-TPAD provides a technological platform to scientifically study human adaptation in gait due to externally applied forces and moments on the pelvis. Human studies with the A-TPAD can motivate new gait rehabilitation paradigms which can potentially be used to correct gait deficits in human walking. The human nervous system is capable of modifying the motor commands in response to alterations in the movement conditions. Several studies have demonstrated the flexibility of human locomotion despite motor impairments and have shown the potential of using such paradigms for gait rehabilitation. In this work, we present a number of human experiments using the cable-driven A-TPAD to propose novel force interventions that induce adaptation in human gait kinematics and kinetics. In particular, stance phase gait interventions have been developed for gait rehabilitation of hemiparetic patients. In these interventions, the external force vector was applied to the pelvis to target weight bearing during walking and to promote longer stance durations. A single-session force training experiment with hemiparetic stroke patients was also conducted as a part of this work. It is shown that hemiparetic stroke patients improved the ground reaction force symmetry, forward propulsion effort, and stance phase symmetry during walking. In this work, the A-TPAD is also used to develop an intervention to apply external gait synchronized forces on the pelvis to reduce the user's effort during walking. The external forces were directed in the sagittal plane to assist the trailing leg during the forward propulsion and vertical deceleration of the pelvis during the gait cycle. A pilot experiment with five healthy subjects was conducted. This study provides a novel approach to study the role of external forces in altering the walking effort, such understanding is important while designing assistive devices for individuals who spend higher than normal effort during walking

Proceedings of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: ● Formulations and Numerical Methods ● Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications ● Flexible Multibody Dynamics ● Contact Dynamics and Constraints ● Multiphysics and Coupled Problems ● Control and Optimization ● Software Development and Computer Technology ● Aerospace and Maritime Applications ● Biomechanics ● Railroad Vehicle Dynamics ● Road Vehicle Dynamics ● Robotics ● Benchmark ProblemsPostprint (published version

Advances of Italian Machine Design

This 2028 Special Issue presents recent developments and achievements in the field of Mechanism and Machine Science coming from the Italian community with international collaborations and ranging from theoretical contributions to experimental and practical applications. It contains selected contributions that were accepted for presentation at the Second International Conference of IFToMM Italy, IFIT2018, that has been held in Cassino on 29 and 30 November 2018. This IFIT conference is the second event of a series that was established in 2016 by IFToMM Italy in Vicenza. IFIT was established to bring together researchers, industry professionals and students, from the Italian and the international community in an intimate, collegial and stimulating environment