Design of a Wearable Quantitative Muscle Rehabilitation Evaluation Robotic Hand Device

There is increasing interest in using robotic devices to assist in improving motor function for stroke patients. Rehabilitation evaluation during the motor rehabilitation process plays a crucial role in instructing robotic or manual therapy. Rehabilitation therapists can take some measure in assessing stiffness or motion range of the patient’s joints, but it is difficult for them to evaluate quantitatively and objectively. Furthermore few wearable robotic devices are reported for evaluating the recovery conditions of the patient’s hand internal muscles. The development of a pneumatic muscle (PM)-driven quantitative muscle rehabilitation evaluation robotic hand device serves this role. On account of the variance of the patient’s muscle recovery active forces and the complex nonlinear dynamics of PMs, the device becomes difficult to control. This paper presents a kind of feasible control strategy applied to this device.