Development of a mechanical set-up for assessing cartesian stiffness of wrist joint from force and orientation measurements

• Main Author: Steven, Lourence
• Other Authors: Domenico Campolo
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Prototyping
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65211
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Fervent interest has recently emerged in the spectrum of wrist rehabilitation for post-stroke patients. The general consensus must agree that most individuals subconsciously perform tasks without realizing or even appreciating the importance of wrist joints for activities in their normal daily lives. With that in mind, the objective of this final year project is to design, manufacture and evaluate a therapist mediated wrist rehabilitation device. The device is retrofitted with a force/torque sensor and motion trackers. The aim is to obtain the stiffness of the wrist joint from the sensory readings and subsequently assess the credibility of the data and the integrity of the device on a whole. With that being said, the therapist mediated wrist rehabilitation device has already been fully prototyped; however, experimentation and evaluation of results would only be conducted at a later stage. As of current, the experimental procedure has already been discussed and will be detailed in due course. The report begins by addressing the need for a wrist rehabilitation device for post-stroke patients. Subsequently, key literature found pertinent to the design and experimentation in later stages was detailed. Next, the mechanical and electrical system designs were illustrated, along with the choice of material and manufacturing processes. Recommendations were also made with regard to what has been accomplished as of current. Further improvements to the design would be addressed after the experimental proceedings.