A Review on Surface EMG Based Control Schemes of Exoskeleton Robot in Stroke Rehabilitation

Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability in modern world. It has potentially enormous emotional and socio-economic consequences. Patients suffering from neuromuscular injuries like stroke often benefit from rehabilitation. The involvement of human beings is a challenging job because it is a time-consuming and labour-intensive process. Researchers are now looking for application of robots especially exoskeleton robots in rehabilitation. This paper enumerates the use of robotics in the field of rehabilitation. Present focus of research is in the area of active powered exoskeleton robots especially surface electromyogram (sEMG) controlled ones. In this paper, we restrict our discussion to sEMG based control scheme only as EMG signals provide rich motor control information from which the user´s intention can be detected, thereby making EMG the most suited approach for designing exoskeleton robots. Usually exoskeleton robots are worn by patients with disabilities, hence their control should be as efficient as possible so as to closely mimic natural human motion. This consideration makes the implementation of sEMG exoskeleton robots very challenging. We review the various sEMG based control schemes which are presently employed in designing exoskeleton robots in rehabilitation of stroke patients and discuss the challenges faced in these schemes.