Design and control of a cable-driven rehabilitation robot for upper and lower limbs

The design and control of a cable-driven rehabilitation robot, which can be configured easily for exercising different articulations such as elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles without requiring any orthosis, are introduced. The passive, active-assisted and active-resisted exercises were designed and implemented using impedance control. The controller could switch between exercises according to the force feedback. The effectiveness of the proposed controller was demonstrated by experimental studies. The robot was tested first with a dummy extremity and then with a healthy subject mimicking various types of patients during the tests. Experimental results showed that satisfactory closed-loop performances were achieved.

Automated summary

The design and control of a cable-driven rehabilitation robot allow for easily configuring exercises for different articulations without the need for orthosis. Three types of exercises – passive, active-assisted, and active-resisted – were implemented using impedance control. Experimental studies demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed controller, achieving satisfactory closed-loop performances.