Standing-up robot: An assistive rehabilitative device for training and assessment

A robot assistive device is proposed to provide support for impaired individuals when rising from a sitting to a standing position. The aim of the standing-up robot is to impose on the impaired person the reference position trajectory of the pelvis while unloading the upper and lower extremities. As a prototype, a simple robot mechanism was built. The robot device is driven by a hydraulic actuator, controlled by a positional control loop, and instrumented by a multiaxis force sensor. Included in the paper is a description of a test case where a person with paraplegia was provided with additional support. The person was standing-up with the help of arm support and functional electrical stimulation of the paralyzed muscles. The measurement results revealed the role of the arm support and support of artificially evoked moments in the paralyzed extremities during rising. In the trials the robot device demonstrated a stable operation when bearing human body weight and achieving human motion dynamics.