Integrating Human Factors in the Systematic Mechanical Design of NPU-Wrist Rehabilitation Robot

Abstract

The wrist connecting the human hand and the forearm includes multiple joints and interlaced ligaments. In addition, the dimensions of the hand, wrist, and forearm vary from individual to individual, that lead to great challenges to design a wrist rehabilitation robot. However, most research on the mechanical design of wrist rehabilitation robot is on the perspectives of actuators configuration, structure lightweight design, or sensors layout optimization, there are rarely research focus on the systematic study of human factors in the mechanical design, especially how to apply human body structural dimensions, functional dimensions, features of motor functions in the design process. In this paper, we focus on the mechanical structure design of NPU-Wrist rehabilitation robot based on human factors to ensure the harmony between the machine and the human body. Based on the analysis of the dynamic/static dimensions of the human body, the anatomy of the wrist, the kinematics of the wrist, and the human-robot contact surface, the mechanical design of the robot is decomposed into several sub-functional modules and each module is specific designed combining the traditional robot design method and the human factors. Finally, a questionnaire was administered on a group of users with different body static and dynamic dimensions. The statistical analysis is conducted and the results show that our NPU-Wrist rehabilitation robot has excellent adaptability to different individuals, safety and comfort

Keywords: wrist rehabilitation robot, human factors, mechanical design

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003362