The Development and Implementation of Low-Level Control Strategies for a Robust and Effective Low-Cost Rehabilitation Robot for Home Use

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The likelihood of having a Stroke increases with age. Statistics show that the population of the UK is aging, due in part to an increase in life expectancy. This means that Stroke is becoming more prevalent in the UK, and this is a trend reflected across much of the Western world. In the UK the increase in Stroke prevalence places a large burden on the NHS and rehabilitation services, especially considering that it is understood that effective neural rehabilitation should be intensive and occur early after the onset of Stroke. In order to ease the burden on medical services and provide more access to therapy, research is increasingly focused on the use of robotics.Rehabilitation robotics for the rehabilitation of neurological traumas such as Stroke are designed to assist the patient with training exercises, and by necessity focus on specific target areas. Gait trainers assist with walking rehabilitation, for example, and upper limb devices assist with reaching exercise training. The benefits of rehabilitation robotics are that repeatable, measurable and consistent training exercises can be provided alongside traditional human-led physiotherapy. This comes at the cost of systems which are expensive and therefore only appropriate to install in community settings such as hospitals, which limits the access to important rehabilitation. Whilst there has been some research into low cost robotic systems, commercially available rehabilitation robots cost in excess of $100,000.The project will look at the development of a low-cost integrated force sensor and end effector for the MyPAM robot, the justification of the selection of a Minimum Jerk Trajectory and the design of an Admittance Control scheme. Further work is discussed, including improvements to the force sensor and necessary work to implement both an Admittance control scheme and an Impedance control scheme.Aim:To develop and implement Admittance Control and Impedance Control strategies for a robust and low-cost rehabilitation robot suitable for home use.Objectives: Develop, test, and validate a low-cost force sensor for the end effector. Integrate the low-cost force sensor into the systems architecture of the MyPAM. Develop, test, and validate a smooth trajectory generator with attractors and repulsors. Integrate the trajectory generator into the software architecture of the MyPAM. Develop, test, and validate a low-cost torque sensor for the MyPAM powered joints. Integrate the low-cost torque sensors into the systems architecture of the MyPAM. Design, implement, test, and validate an Admittance Control scheme. Design, implement, test, and validate an Impedance Control scheme. Determine the effectiveness of the Admittance Control scheme in human based trials. Determine the effectiveness of the Impedance Control scheme in human based trials.