Power-free knee rehabilitation robot for home-based isokinetic training
Robot-assisted isokinetic training has been widely adopted for knee rehabilitation. However, existing rehabilitation facilities are often heavy, bulky, and extremely energy-consuming, which limits the rehabilitation opportunities only at designated hospitals. In this study, we introduce a highly integrated and lightweight (52 kg) knee rehabilitation robot that can provide home-based isokinetic training without external power. By integrating a motor, torque/angle sensors, control circuit, and energy regeneration circuit into a single driver module, our robot can provide power-free isokinetic training by recycling mechanical work from the trainee. Ten postsurgical subjects were involved in an interventional randomized trial (ChiCTR2300076715, Part I) and the cross-sectional area of trained legs (experimental group) was significantly higher than that of untrained legs (control group). The primary outcomes, muscle growth (quadriceps: 5.93%, hamstrings: 10.27%) and strength improvements (quadriceps: 70%, hamstrings: 84%), achieved with our robots surpass those of existing commercial rehabilitation devices. These findings indicate that our robot presents a viable option for home-based knee rehabilitation, significantly enhancing the accessibility of effective treatment.
Authors
- Xingyu Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1142-5546)
- Fuzhen Yuan
- Hui Jing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5091-2057)
- Nie Yong
- Mouwang Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1553-0613)
- Qi Su (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6490-686X)
- Jiaxin Ren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9915-3768)
- Yixin Shao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1330-9640)
- Wuxiang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6141-3368)
- Ke Liu
- Y. J. Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8702-431X)
- Xilun Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9752-3937)
- Yanggang Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6161-3394)
- Jia Xiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0722-2478)
- Jian Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4958-7669)
- Liu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7014-9976)
- Xiuhua Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8640-4732)
- Jun Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2741-381X)
- Ziyan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3973-2933)
- Yuanmingfei Zhang
- Xuzhou Lang
- H. Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9718-3178)
- Yang Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2542-4734)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (China) (CN)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Sichuan University (CN)
- China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CN)
- West China Hospital of Sichuan University (CN)
- Peking University Third Hospital (CN)
- Beihang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-03-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57578-z
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.42