Wrist Exoskeleton Actuated by a Parallel Manipulator

This work has as its main subject the study of exoskeletons for the wrist joint used in rehabilitation applications for patients who have suffered a stroke. The increasing number of people who suffer a stroke is becoming more and more worrying, especially since the number of cases of people under 50 who have a stroke is constantly increasing. Most patients who survive a stroke are left with serious sequelae, especially in the limbs, thus making it difficult for them to carry out daily activities by themselves. There are numerous therapies used during the recovery period, in which the general goal is to regain strength, muscle tone, and the ability to orient the limbs. The disadvantage of these classic therapies is the fact that they take place in specialized clinics or require a medical staff to travel to the patient’s home. This is often inconvenient for patients, who are difficult to move, but also imposes a series of very high costs. For this reason, lately, the attention of researchers has turned to the use of exoskeleton-type mechatronic devices for rehabilitation applications. In this work, a brief description of the main devices that have been developed so far is made, and in the second part of the work, a possible exoskeleton device model is presented that allows both flexion/extension and abduction/adduction of the wrist.