The Effect of Robotic Assistance on Human Musculoskeletal System for Reaching Tasks

• Main Author: Yung, Stephanie C.
• Language: EN
• Published: California State University, Long Beach 2017
• Subjects: Mechanical engineering|Biomechanics|Robotics
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10603846

<p> Due to the rising number of stroke victims, the demand for reduced cost and effective treatments for recovering patients increases. To offset this need, previous studies introduced robotic assistance to rehabilitation treatments. This study investigates how much robotic assistance affects the patient by analyzing the differences in muscle activity. From the collected experimental data of ten healthy subjects, the results initially inferred that the end position of the reaching movements affected the muscle activity in biceps and triceps only, while the deltoid was not affected. However, after applying ANOVA one-way analyses, robotic assistance was found to have an impact on the deltoid, triceps, and bicep muscles when subjects moved their hands along an indirect trajectory towards nine targets. Meanwhile, only the bicep was affected when subjects moved their arm in a direct path with assistance. Lastly, the impact that the trajectory of the hand movement had on muscle activity was undetermined.</p><p>