Design and control of a rehabilitation robot driven by pneumatic swivel modules

Cerebrovascular accident or stroke in aging population is the primary cause of disability and the second leading cause of death in many countries, including Spain (300,000 people). Arm impairment is common and recovery is partly dependent on the intensity and frequency of rehabilitation intervention. However, physical therapy resources are often limited, so methods of supplementing traditional physiotherapy are essential. Robot assisted physiotherapy is one way to increase the duration patients spend participating in rehabilitation activities. Especially robots intended to cooperate with humans, the case of rehabilitation robotic devices, requires drives compliant and safe. By virtue of the compressibility of air, a pneumatic actuator offers compliant actuation system. In this paper, the design and control aspects of a rehabilitation system driven by pneumatic swivel modules are presented. The continual involvement of physiotherapists and end users in the development of medical devices is a key issue to get a final prototype that satisfies their requirements for workspace, comfort, safety and ease of use. All this aspects have been taken into account in the rehabilitation device presented in this paper.