A platform for researching on multimodal robot-assisted rehabilitation therapies

This paper presents the development of a rehabilitation robotic platform to research on the adaptation of the complexity of robot assisted therapy and the real-time displays of a virtual reality system in accordance with specific patient requirements. First, a kinematic analysis of the human arm during typical daily activities is presented to justify the design requirements of the robotic rehabilitation platform. Then, the other necessary components to monitor multi-sensory data from the subject and robotic side and to stimulate the subject during the task are described. Finally, first experimental results with the platform are presented to show that the therapy can be modulated in function of the patient state.