Ergonomic Bio-Design and Motion Simulation of a Mechatronic Orthosis System for Elbow Rehabilitation

In Peru, there are more than 400 thousand people who have musculoskeletal disabilities. For several reasons, some of these people present non-adherence to rehabilitation, this work proposes the design and simulation of a 3 DOF mechatronic right upper limb orthosis to support physical rehabilitation. For this purpose, a 22-year-old male volunteer participated in the study, taking angular measurements that quantify the limitations of the shoulder, arm and elbow movement. Therefore, for the mechanical design, 6061 aluminum telescopic rods were used, which allow the size of the orthosis links to be adapted for the comfort of the user, in addition to the use of fastening straps and rigid supports. In the electronic design, 3 servomotors with a torque of 16 kg-cm were used, which, through the Arduino Nano microcontroller, allowed the control of the angular position to perform the movements. On the other hand, a Matlab GUI was developed with access to a user guide and settings for rehabilitation customization. Finally, the mechatronic orthosis was simulated using software such as Proteus Professional, Matlab and CoppeliaSim, where the execution of the rehabilitation movements was observed giving an appropriate result. By the end of 2022, the orthosis would be implemented to start functional tests with the voluntary patient, it's expected to overcome limitations by incrementing the final angles of movement.