Modular Organization of Reaching Movement Performed With and Without the FLOAT Upper Limb Exoskeleton
摘要
In recent years, robotic devices for rehabilitation have gained interest as a possible tool to improve the outcome of the rehabilitative intervention. Nonetheless, objective measures to assess and compare the effects of robotic systems on the motor performance are still missing. In this work a muscle synergy analysis is performed to explore the impact of the upper limb exoskeleton FLOAT on the modular organization of the reaching movement. The results of the study show that muscle synergies are mainly preserved when healthy individuals perform the reaching task with and without FLOAT. This outcome suggests that the use of FLOAT could be beneficial to the recovery of the motor function of the upper limb.