Mechanical Design and Kinematic Modeling of a Cable-Driven Arm Exoskeleton Incorporating Inaccurate Human Limb Anthropomorphic Parameters

Compared with conventional exoskeletons with rigid links, cable-driven upper-limb exoskeletons are light weight and have simple structures. However, cable-driven exoskeletons rely heavily on the human skeletal system for support. Kinematic modeling and control thus becomes very challenging due to in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 19; no. 20; p. 4461
Main Authors Chen, Weihai, Li, Zhongyi, Cui, Xiang, Zhang, Jianbin, Bai, Shaoping
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 15.10.2019
MDPI
Subjects
Accuracy
Biomechanical Phenomena
cable-driven exoskeleton
Cables
Design
Exoskeleton Device
Exoskeletons
Humans
Identification methods
Kinematics
Limbs
Mathematical models
Model accuracy
Model testing
Modelling
Movement - physiology
Parameter identification
Physical therapy
Prosthesis Design
Rehabilitation
rehabilitation robot
Robots
Skin
Stroke Rehabilitation - methods
Upper Extremity - physiopathology
upper limb
Weight reduction
cable-driven exoskeleton
upper limb
rehabilitation robot
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Summary:Compared with conventional exoskeletons with rigid links, cable-driven upper-limb exoskeletons are light weight and have simple structures. However, cable-driven exoskeletons rely heavily on the human skeletal system for support. Kinematic modeling and control thus becomes very challenging due to inaccurate anthropomorphic parameters and flexible attachments. In this paper, the mechanical design of a cable-driven arm rehabilitation exoskeleton is proposed to accommodate human limbs of different sizes and shapes. A novel arm cuff able to adapt to the contours of human upper limbs is designed. This has given rise to an exoskeleton which reduces the uncertainties caused by instabilities between the exoskeleton and the human arm. A kinematic model of the exoskeleton is further developed by considering the inaccuracies of human-arm skeleton kinematics and attachment errors of the exoskeleton. A parameter identification method is used to improve the accuracy of the kinematic model. The developed kinematic model is finally tested with a primary experiment with an exoskeleton prototype.
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ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s19204461