A Passive Shoulder Joint Tracking Device for Effective Upper Limb Rehabilitation

作者：Park Jeong Ho; Lee Kyoung Soub; Lee Sung Uk; Park Hyung Soon^*

来源：International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, 2016, 17(11): 1533-1540.

DOI：10.1007/s12541-016-0179-5

• Glenohumeral joint
• Gravity compensation
• GH joint tracking
• Motion capture
• Joint center estimation

This paper presents development and evaluation of a passive shoulder joint tracking device for allowing natural three-dimensional movement of the shoulder joint (Glenohumeral joint) during upper limb rehabilitation. The shoulder joint is one of the most sophisticated joint in human body as it involves not only three-dimensional rotation but also three-dimensional translation simultaneously. Existing upper limb rehabilitation devices account for three-dimensional rotation of the shoulder joint but lack in three-dimensional translation. This paper presents design and analysis of a three-degrees of freedom (DOF) passive shoulder joint tracker that allows natural translation of the joint in three-dimensional space. One-DOF vertical tracker compensates for the weight of arm and device by using simple spring mechanism and two-DOF horizontal tracker consists of two-link mechanism allowing two-dimensional translation in horizontal plane. Performance of the passive tracker was evaluated through an experimental analysis with eight human subjects. An upper limb rehabilitation device (J-WREX) combined with the tracker allowed greater range of motion (ROM) of the shoulder joint in all three directions and followed the shoulder joint with acceptable tracking error The passive tracker can be attached to existing upper limb devices to improve the performance by allowing natural shoulder joint movement.

• 出版日期2016-11