Design of a tandem ankle rehabilitation robot

Impaired ankle function resulting from various diseases and sports-related in-ju-ries is a prevalent clinical concern, significantly affecting patients’ mobility and quality of life. In response to the growing demand for effective rehabili-ta-tion solutions, this paper presents a novel serial-structured ankle rehabilita-tion robot (ARR) based on emerging robotic technologies and existing rehabili-tation products. Taking into account the anatomical movement patterns and physio-logical range of motion of the ankle joint (AJ), a three-dimensional me-chanical model was carefully designed to closely mimic natural joint kinemat-ics. A func-tional prototype was developed, and experimental tests were con-ducted to evaluate key performance metrics, including speed response and posi-tioning accuracy. The results demonstrated that the robot exhibits stable and responsive motion control with high precision. Furthermore, the Anybody sim-ulation soft-ware was employed to assess the activation levels of major muscles involved in ankle movement during robotic-assisted training. The data revealed significant engagement of the targeted musculature, indicating effective muscle stimula-tion. Overall, the proposed ARR shows great potential to fulfill the es-sential re-quirements of ankle joint rehabilitation training.