Application of a Multibody Approach for the Digital Twinning of the Human-Robot Ecosystem in Upper Limb Rehabilitation

Exoskeletons are widely spreading in the field of upper limb robotic rehabilitation. However, this sector is not yet in a fully mature phase, leaving room for further research activities ranging from technical to economic aspects. This work presents a combination between the biomechanical model of the human upper limb and of a 1 degree-of-freedom cable-driven exoskeleton in a multibody environment to create the Digital-Twin of the human-robot ecosystem. An initial investigation is presented on the potential for the proposed approach to enable Virtual Sensing of the human muscular effort, paving the way to a novel technology that allows to reduce the necessary instrumentation.