Development of an exoskeleton for wrist-joint rehabilitation: modeling, identification, and control

Abstract Physical disabilities of upper limb motion is a crucial problem that causes loss of essential daily life activities. Exoskeletons are successful and are considered a promising tool for rehabilitation, especially for the malfunction of upper limb motion. The aim of this work is to produce a rehabilitation exoskeleton robot for the wrist joint within its 2-DOFs, operated based on the actuation of four flexible pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), and characterized by being light weight, high strength, and easy wearability. First, the robot’s mechanical design is developed. Then, the experimental identification of the PAMs is presented, followed by a detailed dynamic model of the robot built in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The dynamic behavior of the model is then evaluated using two operation modes. Finally, the design of a PD controller with feedforward acceleration to control the wrist joint angle is introduced.