Abstract: This paper presents the research activity in the
field of rehabilitation robotics of the Robotics & Automation
research group leaded by Prof. Aldo Rossi at the Department
of Innovation in Mechanics and Management (DIMEG) of
University of Padua, Italy. Starting from the experience gained
in the development of cable driven haptic displays, our research
activity was devoted to the development of cable driven robots
for upper limb rehabilitation of post stroke patients in the subacute
phase. Two prototypes of such machines have been built
so far, the NeReBot and the MariBot, which allow to implement
robot-assisted passive exercises in a three dimensional working
space. These robots use three driven cables to sustain the
forearm of the patient and to guide him through the execution
of the exercise. In both cases, the cables originate from an
overhead structure. The first robot has been successfully tested
in clinical environment, and the limitations arisen during
clinical trials lead to the design of the second robot, which
came up as an evolution of the first one. A third cable driven
device is currently being designed. This robot will have a planar
working space and will be suited to implement active-assisted
exercises, targeting not only sub-acute patients but also chronic
patients.
Regarding the strategy of our group, a strong effort will
be devoted to establish international collaborations with other
research groups in the field of rehabilitation robotics. Secondly,
in a medium-long term perspective we are attempting to open
a new rehabilitation center in Padua specialized in robot-aided
rehabilitation. In this way, we aim not only to enlarge the
number of patients involved in clinical trials of the machines,
but also to reduce the time-to-patient of our devices, which
nowadays is quite long. | |