Design and Development of a Gaming Controller for Ankle Therapy

Abstract Although rehabilitation therapies are still the most common treatment for those who have had a stroke, they can be dull and repetitive. Despite recent advances in the field of rehabilitation robots, they can be complicated to operate and needs plenty room space in most cases. This paper presents a gaming controller (GC) that acts as an interface system between the rehabilitation system and the patient. It is connected to a mechanically actuated ankle rehabilitation mechanism, which incorporates the usage of the patients’ upper limbs to work on the range of motion of the ankle. The mechanical mechanism (MM) provides the base for gamified ankle rehabilitation; adopting the mechanism with the developed GC that comprises commercial games. The GC translates the rotary actions of MM to corresponding controller in the games.