An eight-degree-of-freedom upper extremity exoskeleton rehabilitation robot: design, optimization, and validation

Upper extremity exoskeleton rehabilitation robots can be used for the training of patients with upper extremity motor dysfunction. In most cases, the design of such robots focuses on the configuration and the human-machine compatibility. For patients, the use of an exoskeleton rehabilitation robot mainly aims to improve their movement ability, which depends on the range of movement of the upper extremity joints. This paper proposes an eight-degree-of-freedom (DOF) upper extremity exoskeleton rehabilitation robot to improve the movement range of the patient’s upper extremity joints. The structural parameters of the shoulder joint are optimized and analyzed by the kinematic equations of the mechanism and the cyclic iteration algorithm such that the movement range of the patient joint can be maximized. The movement space of the robot is then simulated. Finally, the movement range of the rehabilitation robot joints and the movement space of the rehabilitation robot were measured. Experimental results show that the upper extremity exoskeleton rehabilitation robot can meet the patient’s shoulder, elbow, and wrist movement range, and the overlap with the human upper extremity movement space is 97.1 % and 95.7 % in the coronal and sagittal planes, respectively.