Usability Evaluation of SMA Based Exoskeleton: Pilot Testing in Post-stroke Patients

Rehabilitation robotic devices are currently used with success as a complement to the physiotherapist task. However, this technology is still attracting the research interest because aspects such as the effectiveness of rehabilitation therapy, the cost of the device, the weight and ergonomic are only a few of aspects which can continuously be improved. This work presents the analysis and usability evaluation for elbow joint Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based exoskeleton. This was tested and evaluated in flexion-extension movement with 10 patients with stroke and 6 physiotherapists. Firstly, the robotic device was used for data acquisition, which permitted an evaluation of the patient to define the elbow range of movement, and after, it was used in the passive mode where the patients relax the articulation and the exoskeleton executes the forearm movement in flexion-extension. After the test with the exoskeleton, the patients were asked to complete the QUEST 2.0, which permits to evaluate the usability (effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction with the exoskeleton).