Testing the Limit Range of Motion Safety Function of Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robots with an Anthropometrically...

Arm type or exoskeleton type rehabilitation robots move the patient's upper limb through one or more, either free or restrained connection points. The rehabilitation robot is unsafe if it moves the patient's upper limb beyond the limits of the anatomical joint ranges. A validation toolkit was developed to assess the risks of "limit anatomical joint range of movement" and "limit anatomical joint overreaching" during the regular operation of a rehabilitation robot. The validation toolkit includes an anthropometrically adjustable and sensorised dummy limb attached to the RACA (rehabilitation, assessment, compensation, or alleviation) rehabilitation robot; and a software tool for off-line risk assessment and reporting.