Design & control of an upper arm fes workstation for rehabilitation

An overview is provided of the design, operation and performance of an experimental test facility that has been developed for stroke rehabilitation. The aim of the system is to improve sensory-motor function of the impaired upper limb, and it has recently been used in clinical trials with stroke participants. During treatment subjects were seated at the workstation and their impaired arm strapped to the robotic end-effector. Their task was to follow elliptical trajectories that were projected onto a target above their arm, using voluntary control with the addition of electrical stimulation mediated by advanced control schemes. The design of the experimental system is first summarised, and then details are presented of the modelling, identification and control techniques used by the workstation over the course of treatment.