An intelligent robotic system for rehabilitation of joints and estimation of body segment parameters

An an application of robotics in physical rehabilitation therapy, a robotic system consisting of two planar robot arms, each with two degrees of freedom, is considered. This robotic system, when coupled across a human joint, provides a vehicle for rehabilitation of the joint following surgery or trauma. A novel approach for estimation of body segment parameters is formulated that uses state and output information from the robot system to improve these estimates. In addition, redundant sensors are used to improve the accuracy of the estimates. The dynamic equations for a single robot arm are provided and the system is simulated. Therapeutic applications of the robotic system are discussed and the sensitivity of the measured forces with respect to the robot arm joint angles is studied in order to find an optimum orientation of the system for the best possible estimation. The application of this system to both rehabilitation and sports medicine is also discussed.