Electromyogram-based motion compensation control for the upper limb rehabilitation robot in active training

Abstract

Active participation in training is very important for improving the rehabilitation effect for patients with upper limb dysfunction. However, traditional upper limb rehabilitation robots cannot drive the patients' arms by following their varying motion intents during active training. This control strategy can weaken the patients' active participation. This paper proposes a novel center-driven upper limb rehabilitation robot and an electromyogram (EMG)-based motion compensation control method for the upper limb rehabilitation robot in active training in order to improve the patients' active participation. In addition, the trajectory planning equations for the proposed robot manipulator are analyzed and built in order to provide the reference trajectory in active training. In the end, two experiments are carried out to verify the proposed control method. The EMG compensation experiments show that the maximum error between the theoretical and experimental motor rotating speeds is no more than 1.3 %. The active training control experiment results show that the proposed robot can implement the reference trajectory in real time. The control method can implement the positive relationship between the rotating speed and the intensity of EMG emerging during upper limb training. It shows that the proposed rehabilitation robot can provide auxiliary force according to the patients' motion intents. The proposed rehabilitation robot can guide the patients in implementing the reference task in active training.