Kinematic Analysis of Virtual Reality Task Intensity Induced by a Rehabilitation Robotic System in Stroke Patients

Robotic systems provide a paradigm shift in maximizing neural plasticity as part of human motor control recovery following stroke. Such a system shifts the treatment from therapist dependent to patient dependent by its potential to increase the treatment dose and intensity, as long as the patient can tolerate it. The experimental protocol included 10 post stroke hemiparetic subjects in a chronic stage. Subjects were treated with an upper limb exoskeleton system (EXO-UL7) using a unilateral mode, and a bilateral mode. Seven virtual reality tasks were utilized in the protocol. A kinematic-based methodology was used to study the intensity of the virtual reality tasks in each one of the operational modes. The proposed method is well suited for early evaluation of a given virtual reality task, or movement assistance modality during the development process. Pilot study data were analyzed using the proposed methodology. This allowed for the identification of kinetic differences between the assistance modalities by assessing the intensity of the virtual reality tasks.