Development of a Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation Program for Upper-Extremity Disabilities

In this paper, the design and development of a robot-assisted rehabilitation program is presented. This work attempts to introduce a therapy technique that makes use of numerous technologies to reduce human intervention in an attempt to provide intelligent robot-assisted therapy sessions. A humanoid robot is used as the demonstrator of exercises as well as the medium for the feedback provided to patients. An exercise library suitable for stroke patients was utilized. With the help of the Microsoft Kinect RGB-D camera, supervision of therapeutic exercises is performed. The strength of the targeted muscle is kept track of with the help of an Electromyography (EMG) sensor and the patient's biometric level i.e., the heart rate is monitored throughout the session, and when an undesired level is detected, an email is prompted to medical personnel. The exercises were successfully demonstrated to the patients and the joint angle was successfully tracked with the Kinect camera with a RMSE of 7.78 degrees. The results obtained therefore demonstrate the system's feasibility and importance.