CardioVR-ReTone – 14 DOFs UPPER-BODY ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON DESIGNED TO SUPPORT CARDIAC REHABILITATION

Cardiac rehabilitation following a cardiac surgery involves delivery of structured exercise, training, and psychological support, in a cost-effective manner. Most of these rehabilitation strategies need sessions of motor recovery to improve joint range of motion, fortify muscles, restore cardiac functional capabilities, and resolve impairments of the patient upper body. For this reason, within this paper, we design a new structure of upper limb exoskeleton augmented by a Virtual Reality (VR) platform with the following novel features: new shoulder girdle mechanism for driving the necessary actions of the shoulder mechanism throughout its range, without soreness for the patients; to match with the anatomical structure for minimizing unwanted remaining force to the human joints; and integration of the robotic exoskeleton and VR system in one system.