Force transmission orthosis with rotary drive type rachet mechanism for upper limb disabled persons

Abstract

We previously proposeda power assist robot and conductedexperiments for cervical cord injury(CCI) patients. This paper proposed a new type of robot orthosis by making of their residual function around their shoulder in order to operate the wheelchair. A lock/unlock mechanism on the elbow joint is effectively used to transmit the residual function around the shoulder to the hand. We confirmedthat three patients with CCI could use their residual functionaround their shoulderand operate a wheelchair effectively in outdoor environment like high resistance roads and roads with a slope by measuring velocity of the wheelchair and electromyography of his shoulder muscle.

Keywords

• robotic orthosis
• human-robot-interaction
• muscle and skeleton
• cervical cord injury
• mechatronics
• ratchet gear
• residual function
• wheelchair