Development of a 10-DOF robotic system for upper-limb power assistance

This paper addresses a new robotic system to assist the upper limb movements for the elderly and the disabled in activities of daily living (ADL). The proposed robotic system consists of 1-degree-of-freedom (DOF) under-actuated exoskeleton mechanism for hand grasping, 3-DOF exoskeleton parallel mechanism for wrist motion, and 6-DOF serial mechanism that is attached to the wrist mechanism. Thus, the serial mechanism covers shoulder and elbow workspace and supports arbitrary movement of the forearm. The proposed mechanical structure and upper limb mounting manner on the power assistant system minimizes mechanical constraints imposed on the body, thus, it allows to free user from a very slow and cumbersome process for wearing and taking off of the systems.