A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness Mechanism
Home-based rehabilitation with robot assistance may significantly reduce therapist workload and facilitate post-stroke patient training. However, the lack of real-time therapist supervision requires higher safety, ease of use, and training efficiency of the rehabilitation system. Therefore, active r...
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| Format: | Article |
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IEEE
2025-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11048644/ |
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| author | Ke Shi Yingchen Gao Maozeng Zhang Lifeng Zhu Aiguo Song |
| author_facet | Ke Shi Yingchen Gao Maozeng Zhang Lifeng Zhu Aiguo Song |
| author_sort | Ke Shi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Home-based rehabilitation with robot assistance may significantly reduce therapist workload and facilitate post-stroke patient training. However, the lack of real-time therapist supervision requires higher safety, ease of use, and training efficiency of the rehabilitation system. Therefore, active robot rehabilitation systems may not be particularly ideal for home use due to high costs, large footprints, safety concerns, and the potential for motor slacking. Self-powered robots provide a promising alternative by enabling the unimpaired side (UIS) to assist the impaired side (IS) without external power. However, constant and rigid coupling between limbs may lead to the over-compensation by the UIS, reduce engagement of the IS, and fail to provide sufficient information for task performance assessment. This paper demonstrates a home-based self-powered rehabilitation system with a variable stiffness mechanism (VSM), providing proper coupling stiffness between the UIS and IS according to the IS’s motor ability. The application of the VSM also allows for the measurement of motion errors and interaction forces using only encoders, facilitating motor ability evaluation and training task guidance. First, we propose a cable-driven VSM with active and passive stiffness regulation, and develop a bilateral two-degree-of-freedom rehabilitation system with the VSM for evaluation. Then, the system’s functionality and efficacy are validated through experiments with twelve healthy subjects and ten stroke survivors. The proposed self-powered system can potentially avoid UIS’s over-compensation, enhances IS’s engagement, and improves training efficiency, while ensuring safety and reliability within home-based rehabilitation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0aeb73cceb94422e9fa4e3fd8a134aa2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1534-4320 1558-0210 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
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| series | IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-0aeb73cceb94422e9fa4e3fd8a134aa22025-08-20T02:38:25ZengIEEEIEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering1534-43201558-02102025-01-01332487249710.1109/TNSRE.2025.358225511048644A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness MechanismKe Shi0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6126-9818Yingchen Gao1https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2835-3499Maozeng Zhang2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6871-1886Lifeng Zhu3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9999-4513Aiguo Song4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1982-6780School of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Cluny Road, SingaporeSchool of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaSchool of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaSchool of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaHome-based rehabilitation with robot assistance may significantly reduce therapist workload and facilitate post-stroke patient training. However, the lack of real-time therapist supervision requires higher safety, ease of use, and training efficiency of the rehabilitation system. Therefore, active robot rehabilitation systems may not be particularly ideal for home use due to high costs, large footprints, safety concerns, and the potential for motor slacking. Self-powered robots provide a promising alternative by enabling the unimpaired side (UIS) to assist the impaired side (IS) without external power. However, constant and rigid coupling between limbs may lead to the over-compensation by the UIS, reduce engagement of the IS, and fail to provide sufficient information for task performance assessment. This paper demonstrates a home-based self-powered rehabilitation system with a variable stiffness mechanism (VSM), providing proper coupling stiffness between the UIS and IS according to the IS’s motor ability. The application of the VSM also allows for the measurement of motion errors and interaction forces using only encoders, facilitating motor ability evaluation and training task guidance. First, we propose a cable-driven VSM with active and passive stiffness regulation, and develop a bilateral two-degree-of-freedom rehabilitation system with the VSM for evaluation. Then, the system’s functionality and efficacy are validated through experiments with twelve healthy subjects and ten stroke survivors. The proposed self-powered system can potentially avoid UIS’s over-compensation, enhances IS’s engagement, and improves training efficiency, while ensuring safety and reliability within home-based rehabilitation.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11048644/Rehabilitation robotpassive robotbilateral rehabilitationvariable stiffness mechanism |
| spellingShingle | Ke Shi Yingchen Gao Maozeng Zhang Lifeng Zhu Aiguo Song A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness Mechanism IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Rehabilitation robot passive robot bilateral rehabilitation variable stiffness mechanism |
| title | A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness Mechanism |
| title_full | A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness Mechanism |
| title_fullStr | A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness Mechanism |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness Mechanism |
| title_short | A Home-Based Self-Powered Rehabilitation System With Variable Stiffness Mechanism |
| title_sort | home based self powered rehabilitation system with variable stiffness mechanism |
| topic | Rehabilitation robot passive robot bilateral rehabilitation variable stiffness mechanism |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11048644/ |
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