Novel Concept of a Lower-limb Rehabilitation Robot Targeting Bed-bound Acute Stroke Patients

Abstract

A novel concept for a stroke rehabilitation robot is presented, which incorporates ideas gathered after conducting fieldwork at a local hospital with five therapists. Data collected from the hospital and from recent stroke rehabilitation guidelines revealed key insights which generated ideas for a new device based in part upon our previous robot, the Virtual Gait Rehabilitation Robot (ViGRR). The new concept differs from existing rehabilitation robots in that it can be used independent of the therapist, who often have very limited schedules. Other issues are addressed, such as combating a lack of motivation or attention found in some patients. Future trials are discussed, including clinical trials measuring functional outcomes as well as less common metrics such as user engagement.