Arm type or exoskeleton type rehabilitation robots move the patient’s upper limb through
one or more, either free or restrained connection points. The rehabilitation robot
is unsafe if it moves the patient’s upper limb beyond the limits of the anatomical
joint ranges. A validation toolkit was developed to assess the risks of “limit anatomical
joint range of movement” and “limit anatomical joint overreaching” during the regular
operation of a rehabilitation robot. The validation toolkit includes an anthropometrically
adjustable and sensorised dummy limb attached to the RACA (rehabilitation, assessment,
compensation, or alleviation) rehabilitation robot; and a software tool for off-line
risk assessment and reporting.
