Rehabilitation robots are increasingly being developed in order to be used by injured people to perform exercise and training. As these exercises do not need wide range movements, some parallel robots with lower mobility architecture can be an ideal solution for this purpose. This paper presents the design of a new four degree-of-freedom (DOF) parallel robot for knee rehabilitation. The required four DOFs are two translations in a vertical plane and two rotations, one of them around an axis perpendicular to the vertical plane and the other one with respect to a vector normal to the instantaneous orientation of the mobile platform. These four DOFs are reached by means of two RPRR limbs and two UPS limbs linked to an articulated mobile platform with an internal DOF. Kinematics of the new mechanism are solved and the direct Jacobian is calculated. A singularity analysis is carried out and the gained DOFs of the direct singularities are calculated. Some of the singularities can be avoided by selecting suitable values of the geometric parameters of the robot. Moreover, among the found singularities, one of them can be used in order to fold up the mechanism for its transportation. It is concluded that the proposed mechanism reaches the desired output movements in order to carry out rehabilitation maneuvers in a singularity-free portion of its workspace.
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September 2018
Research-Article
Kinematic Design of a New Four Degree-of-Freedom Parallel Robot for Knee Rehabilitation
Jokin Aginaga,
Jokin Aginaga
Institute of Smart Cities (ISC),
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: jokin.aginaga@unavarra.es
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: jokin.aginaga@unavarra.es
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Xabier Iriarte,
Xabier Iriarte
Institute of Smart Cities (ISC),
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: xabier.iriarte@unavarra.es
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: xabier.iriarte@unavarra.es
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Aitor Plaza,
Aitor Plaza
Department of Mechanical,
Energetics and Materials Engineering,
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: aitor.plaza@unavarra.es
Energetics and Materials Engineering,
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: aitor.plaza@unavarra.es
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Vicente Mata
Vicente Mata
Professor
Centro de Investigación en Ingeniería Mecánica,
Universitat Politècnica de València,
Valencia 46022, Spain
e-mail: vmata@mcm.upv.es
Centro de Investigación en Ingeniería Mecánica,
Universitat Politècnica de València,
Valencia 46022, Spain
e-mail: vmata@mcm.upv.es
Search for other works by this author on:
Jokin Aginaga
Institute of Smart Cities (ISC),
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: jokin.aginaga@unavarra.es
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: jokin.aginaga@unavarra.es
Xabier Iriarte
Institute of Smart Cities (ISC),
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: xabier.iriarte@unavarra.es
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: xabier.iriarte@unavarra.es
Aitor Plaza
Department of Mechanical,
Energetics and Materials Engineering,
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: aitor.plaza@unavarra.es
Energetics and Materials Engineering,
Public University of Navarre,
Iruñea-Pamplona 31006, Spain
e-mail: aitor.plaza@unavarra.es
Vicente Mata
Professor
Centro de Investigación en Ingeniería Mecánica,
Universitat Politècnica de València,
Valencia 46022, Spain
e-mail: vmata@mcm.upv.es
Centro de Investigación en Ingeniería Mecánica,
Universitat Politècnica de València,
Valencia 46022, Spain
e-mail: vmata@mcm.upv.es
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Mechanisms and Robotics Committee of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN. Manuscript received July 31, 2017; final manuscript received April 18, 2018; published online July 3, 2018. Assoc. Editor: Oscar Altuzarra.
J. Mech. Des. Sep 2018, 140(9): 092304 (12 pages)
Published Online: July 3, 2018
Article history
Received:
July 31, 2017
Revised:
April 18, 2018
Citation
Aginaga, J., Iriarte, X., Plaza, A., and Mata, V. (July 3, 2018). "Kinematic Design of a New Four Degree-of-Freedom Parallel Robot for Knee Rehabilitation." ASME. J. Mech. Des. September 2018; 140(9): 092304. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4040168
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