A Cable-Driven Robot for Upper Limb Rehabilitation Inspired by the Mirror Therapy

The paper presents the development of a mechatronic system composed by a cable-driven robot and a vision system to be used for upper limb rehabilitation. It is inspired by the mirror therapy that is a valuable method for enhancing motor recovery in post stroke hemiparesis making use of the mirror-illusion created by the movement of a sound limb that is perceived as the paretic limb. In particular, a software has been developed and it is able to acquire images of a target, i.e. the hand of an individual, and after image processing, reproduces the target movement by a cable-driven manipulator. More specifically, the end-effector of the manipulator can be fixed to the paralyzed hand of the individual. The development of a planar 4-2 cable-driven parallel robot by low-cost mechanical design and easy control can be effective for the home-care of individuals for continuous training and recovering. First experimental tests are provided to show the feasibility of the system.