Robotic Arm Rehabilitation Device

Assisting Tecnalia's venture in designing a rehabilitation robot to aid stroke victims in their recovery. Our aim is to further improve Team Arm Assist's two previous add-on modules by implementing advancements to create a more fluid, functional product.

Development and Project Goals
TECNALIA's Arm Assist Robot is an assistive robot for the rehabilitation of patients with upper limb neuromuscular impairment, specifically for patients who have suffered from a stroke. This assistive robot is accompanied by a tele-rehabilitation platform, thus allowing rehabilitation at home under supervision from the therapist by its quantitative evaluation.

ARMASSIST represents a major technological breakthrough which allows TECNALIA to address the growing market demand for personalized care. This initiative was born to meet the needs of the 15 million people who suffer brain-vascular damage every year; of that figure 5 million suffer permanent disability.[]

The Robotic Arm Assist team, provided by the University of Idaho, will work through the capstone project to further develop the rehabilitation robot. The team will add to the overall functionality of the robot by providing TECNALIA with modules that will increase the ability to rotate the wrist and ability to open and close the patient's hand.

Problem Definition
Our goal is to evaluate the 2013 Team Arm Assist's modules and make further improvements. We are primarily focused on the advancing the functionality of the wrist and grip module to create a universal product that can be powered comfortably by any user. Our improved modules should be durable and ensure accurate results to guide the patient to recovery.

Background
Our team, Team Rehab, is continuing the Robotic Arm Assist project from the 2013 team. Team Arm Assist designed three add on modules that consisted of a grip, wrist rotation, and arm elevation module. At Tecnalia's request, they want us to further implement advancements to the grip and wrist rotation module while the company will be finding a more efficient design for the arm elevation module.

In the process of

Specifications
 Grip Module 
 * Measure force of grasping and achieve accurate/consistent feedback
 * Make universal by providing adjustability to accustom all users
 * Provide comfort and simulate natural human mechanisms of the hand

 Wrist Module 
 * Allow full range of motion in wrist (±90°ideally)
 * Incorporate smoother stops at end of pronosupination
 * Create a locking mechanism to prevent movement in wrist
 * Integrate calibration system to record the degrees of rotation.

Project Learning
Throughout the process of implementing new improvements at the request of Tecnalia has entailed a lot of research from the previous year's results. There was a learning period where we had to quickly become up to date where Team Arm Assist (2013) had finished. This included heavily examining their project portfolio to see where they succeeded and where there was potential improvement. Since their final add on modules were in Spain, we had to fully recreate the wrist and grip module from scratch. This entailed understanding Team Arm Assist's assembly plan, function of each mechanical part, and where there were was error in final calculations.