Act-Exo-Rehab: an adaptive active exoskeleton for upper limb rehabilitation in real-time environments

Upper limb exoskeletons have emerged as a significant rehabilitation tool for the elderly, injured, and individuals with disabilities. Traditionally, these devices require the constant presence of a medical practitioner and are typically confined to fixed environments such as hospitals or clinics, often mounted on a setup or wheelchair. They are often bulky, expensive, and difficult to assemble. This paper presents a novel design for an upper limb exoskeleton that overcomes these limitations by being exceptionally lightweight, portable, and easy to assemble and manufacture. The exoskeleton facilitates 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) motion, encompassing shoulder, elbow, and wrist movements with partial assistance to the joints. It does not require fixation to a particular location, making it adaptable for use with both left and right upper limbs. Additionally, the paper discusses the kinematic analysis, dynamic simulation using MATLAB, control strategies, and the practical implementation of the physical system. Note to Practitioners: This work presents a lightweight and portable upper limb exoskeleton design intended for practical rehabilitation applications. The proposed system emphasizes ease of assembly, reduced system complexity, and suitability for home-based or assistive environments. The design framework can assist practitioners and developers in building cost-effective and adaptable rehabilitation devices, particularly for scenarios where portability and simplicity are critical. Amputee, Rehabilitation, Upper Limb Exoskeleton, Fused Deposition Modelling, Additive Manufacturing, Unified Robotics Description Format, Inverse Kinematics, Trajectory Planning, Way-point Tracking, Proportional-Integral-Derivative Control, Embedded System.