Assessing Wrist Movement With Robotic Devices.

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Biomechanics
• Robotics

Background:

• Neurological injuries necessitate intensive therapy for motor function recovery.
• Exoskeletons offer precise, repeatable measurements for clinical assessments.
• Assessing exoskeleton accuracy and movement impact is crucial, especially for complex joints like the wrist and hand.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate robotic exoskeleton measurements against accepted modalities.
• To investigate the effect of exoskeleton dynamics on wrist movement.
• To evaluate the impact of exoskeletons on wrist and hand coordination.

Main Methods:

• Three user-in-the-loop experiments with able-bodied participants.
• Comparison of robotic joint measurements with an accepted modality.
• Analysis of movement characteristics with and without the exoskeleton.
• Assessment of coordination during a pointing task.

Main Results:

• Robotic kinematic measurements preserved movement smoothness.
• Exoskeleton dynamics had a marginal impact on wrist movement characteristics.
• Coordination in a redundant pointing task was minimally affected by the device.

Conclusions:

• Exoskeletons are validated as accurate assessment devices for wrist and hand function.
• Design guidelines for future exoskeletal assessment devices are proposed based on these findings.