• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.41-51
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• 2020

This paper presents the development of a robotic system for rehabilitation of the trunk's ability to maintain postural control under different balance conditions. The system, developed with extensive input from rehabilitation and biomedical engineering experts, consists of a seat mounted on a robotic mechanism capable of moving it with four degrees of freedom (3 rotational and 1 translational). The seat surface has built in instrumentation to gauge the movements of the user's center of pressure (COP) and it can be moved either to track the movements of the COP or according to operator given commands. The system allows two types of leg support. A ground mounted footrest allows participation of legs in postural control while a seat connected footrest constrains the leg movement and limits their involvement in postural control. The design evolution over several prototypes is presented and computer aided structural analysis is used to determine the feasibility of the designed components. The system is pilot tested by a stroke patient and is determined to have potential for use as a trunk rehabilitation tool. Future works involve more detailed studies to evaluate the effects of using this system and to determine its efficacy as a rehabilitation tool.