Designing an In-Home Scalable Robotic Arm Exoskeleton for Hand Rehabilitation Therapy

Abstract

Cerebral palsy and stroke are both debilitating neurological disorders that may permanently damage a person’s body movements and muscle coordination. Recent methods to help facilitate therapy in cerebral palsy patients and stroke survivors include the patient interacting with a robotic arm exoskeleton that is connected to a tablet gaming suite, which has shown to encourage the patient to complete his or her rehabilitation regiment. A major problem currently facing robotic arm exoskeleton rehabilitation therapy is that commercially available robotic arm exoskeletons are relatively bulky, heavy, expensive, and typically fit only one size, limiting the amount of patients who can benefit from this therapy. This paper describes a method to create an easily scalable robotic arm exoskeleton for use in hand rehabilitation therapy, through 3D printing. This paper then illustrates a study where the developed robotic arm exoskeleton was compared to a commercially available robotic arm exoskeleton in order to determine efficacy.