The challenge

Robotic technologies have the potential to aid upper-limb rehabilitation therapies significantly. This is especially so for stroke patients with moderate to severe upper limb impairment. Such devices can assist post-stroke patients to perform functional arm practice and activities of daily living (ADLs) training.

However, the full potential of these robotic technologies has not been realised because patients only have a limited time in the hospital to practise their use. These devices need to be brought out of the hospital environment and be portable and affordable for home therapy.

The proposed solution

Our assistive robotic arm extender (ARAE) aims to meet this challenge. With its minimalist design, ARAE can be much simpler, lighter, smaller and cheaper than existing robots because fewer actuators are required to achieve its desired mechanical functionality.

In this preliminary stage, we are testing the effectiveness of ARAE with healthy subjects.