Analysis and synthesis of methods for safe, sensory-supported unimanual robot-based training

This doctoral thesis is mostly involved with robotic exercise for support in motor rehabilitation of patients with movement disorders of the upper extremities. This field is based on two decades of intensive research. The first part of the thesis is focused on an unobtrusive measurement of the persons' physiological response. Methods to analyse and validate the unobtrusive measurement system are described. For a safe human-robot interaction we need to provide a certain degree of compliance between the patient and the robot. A type of a variable-stiffness actuator is analysed and different control strategies are used to provide for decoupled stifness and position control of the mechanism. With the addition of a virtual environment, multimodal robotic training can be produced by a system using physiological measurements, task performance and biomechanical measures and by using an inherently safe haptic interface.