Full-drive upper limb assisted motion rehabilitation exoskeleton

Abstract

This application discloses a fully driven upper limb assistive movement rehabilitation exoskeleton, comprising: a frame; and two sets of assistive movement structures respectively installed on both sides of the frame, which, from the side closer to the frame to the side away from the frame, include, in sequence: a shoulder-thoracic joint movement mechanism, a shoulder joint movement mechanism, an elbow joint movement mechanism, and a wrist joint movement mechanism; wherein, the shoulder-thoracic joint movement mechanism includes: a shoulder-thoracic joint movement motor, a shoulder-thoracic joint movement arm, and a compensating motor, wherein the shoulder-thoracic joint movement motor is fixed to the frame, and its output end is connected to the first end of the shoulder-thoracic joint movement arm, the second end of the shoulder-thoracic joint movement arm is used to fix the compensating motor, and the output end of the compensating motor is connected to the shoulder joint movement mechanism; when the shoulder-thoracic joint movement motor drives the shoulder-thoracic joint movement arm to rotate to assist the patient's shoulder in forward and backward movement, the compensating motor synchronously drives the shoulder joint movement mechanism, so that the patient's shoulder joint moves forward and backward with its shoulder-thoracic joint as the axis.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application generally relates to the field of medical device technology, and in particular to an upper limb assistive movement rehabilitation exoskeleton. Background Technology

[0002] Rehabilitation and exercise therapy devices with exoskeleton structures are increasingly widely used in the field of medical rehabilitation. They can effectively help patients with limb movement disorders to move the corresponding joints and muscles, thereby helping them regain motor function in those areas. The main method involves the patient wearing the exoskeleton and activating the movement mechanism to move the relevant body parts in a state similar to when they were healthy. Existing upper limb rehabilitation devices can generally help patients move the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints in this way, but rarely can they assist patients in moving the shoulder-chest joints located between the neck and shoulder, such as the sternoclavicular and acromioclavicular joints. Even if some devices can help patients move these joints, the axis of rotation for that area is often not in the shoulder-chest region, but rather along the axis of the device's rotating motor. This not only limits the range of motion in this area with long-term use, but can also cause serious damage to the body in that area. Therefore, how to improve upper limb rehabilitation devices to support patients' shoulder-chest recovery activities has become an urgent problem to be solved in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of the aforementioned defects or deficiencies in the existing technology, it is desirable to provide an upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton that can help patients better move their shoulder and chest. The specific technical solution is as follows, including:

[0004] Frame;

[0005] The auxiliary movement structure comprises two sets, respectively installed on both sides of the frame, for assisting the patient in upper limb joint movements. From the side closest to the frame away from the frame, it includes, in sequence, a shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism, a shoulder joint movement mechanism, an elbow joint movement mechanism, and a wrist joint movement mechanism; wherein, the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism includes:

[0006] The shoulder-chest joint motion motor, the shoulder-chest joint motion arm, and the compensating motor are provided. The shoulder-chest joint motion motor is fixed to the frame and its output end is connected to the first end of the shoulder-chest joint motion arm. The second end of the shoulder-chest joint motion arm is used to fix the compensating motor. The output end of the compensating motor is connected to the shoulder joint motion mechanism.

[0007] When the scapulothoracic joint motor drives the scapulothoracic joint movable arm to rotate to assist the patient's shoulder in forward and backward movement, the compensating motor synchronously drives the shoulder joint movable mechanism, so that the patient's shoulder joint moves forward and backward with its scapulothoracic joint as the axis.

[0008] As a further limitation of this application, the wrist joint movement mechanism includes a wrist joint rotation assembly, the wrist joint rotation assembly comprising:

[0009] A wrist joint rotation motor, wherein the wrist joint motion motor is fixed to a fixing member at the end of the elbow joint motion mechanism;

[0010] A transmission assembly, one end of which is connected to the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor;

[0011] A palm fixation component, used to fix the patient's palm, is connected to the other end of the transmission assembly.

[0012] As a further limitation of this application, the transmission assembly includes:

[0013] A transmission gear, which is coaxially fixed to the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor;

[0014] A semi-circular transmission component, which is rotatable about its central axis, is connected to the fixed component at the end of the elbow joint movable mechanism and meshes with the transmission gear.

[0015] A relative position adjustment component is provided between the semi-circular transmission component and the palm fixing component to adjust the relative position between the two so that the central axis of the semi-circular transmission component is collinear with the axis of the patient's arm.

[0016] As a further limitation of this application, the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism also includes an auxiliary support member, which is disposed between the middle of the shoulder-chest joint movement arm and the frame, and is used to provide an upward supporting force to the shoulder-chest joint movement arm.

[0017] As a further limitation of this application, the shoulder-chest joint motion motor includes:

[0018] A shoulder-chest joint anterior-posterior motion motor is fixed to the frame and is used to drive the patient's shoulder to move forward and backward.

[0019] A shoulder-chest joint vertical movement motor is connected to the output end of the shoulder-chest joint front-to-back movement motor and is used to drive the patient's shoulder to move up and down. Its output end is connected to the shoulder-chest joint movement arm.

[0020] As a further limitation of this application, the shoulder joint movement mechanism includes:

[0021] A shoulder joint anterior-posterior movement component, one end of which is connected to the end of the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism, is used to drive the patient's upper arm to move forward and backward.

[0022] A shoulder joint vertical movement component, one end of which is connected to the other end of the shoulder joint anterior-posterior movement component, and the other end of which is connected to the elbow joint movement mechanism, the shoulder joint vertical movement component being used to drive the patient's upper arm to move up and down.

[0023] As a further limitation of this application, the wrist joint movement mechanism also includes:

[0024] A wrist joint vertical movement component, one end of which is connected to the end of the wrist joint rotation component, is used to drive the patient's palm to move up and down.

[0025] A wrist joint lateral movement component, one end of which is connected to the other end of the wrist joint vertical movement component, and the other end of which is connected to the palm fixation component, is used to drive the patient's palm end to move left and right.

[0026] As a further limitation of this application, it also includes: a control mechanism for controlling the start and stop of each joint movement mechanism according to user instructions.

[0027] As a further limitation of this application, it also includes: a seating mechanism connected to the frame for use by a patient to sit on.

[0028] As a further limitation of this application, it also includes: a moving mechanism, which is located at the bottom of the frame and is used to assist the user in pushing the upper limb assistive movement rehabilitation exoskeleton.

[0029] The beneficial effects of this application are:

[0030] Regarding the issue of assisting patients in mobilizing their shoulder and chest, the existing solution involves placing a shoulder-chest joint mobilization mechanism between the frame and the shoulder joint mobilization mechanism. This mechanism consists of a shoulder-chest joint mobilization motor and a shoulder-chest joint mobilization arm. When the patient wears the device, their shoulder and chest are positioned in front of the shoulder-chest joint mobilization motor. When the shoulder-chest joint mobilization motor drives the shoulder-chest joint mobilization arm to rotate around its own axis, it causes the clavicle between the patient's shoulder-chest joint and shoulder joint to rotate. The end of the clavicle closer to the head is called the first clavicle end, and the end farther from the head is called the second clavicle end. Because the shoulder-chest joint mobilization motor directly drives the clavicle to rotate, during the rotation, the second clavicle end moves around the axis of the shoulder-chest joint mobilization motor, rather than rotating around the patient's shoulder-chest joint. Its rotation trajectory naturally deviates from the normal movement trajectory of the patient's clavicle, making it difficult to provide positive assistance for the rehabilitation of the patient's shoulder-chest joint. Specifically, in the solution provided in this application, in addition to the aforementioned components, the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism also includes a compensating motor on the side of the shoulder-chest joint movement arm away from the shoulder-chest joint movement motor. When the shoulder-chest joint movement motor rotates, the compensating motor rotates around the axis of the shoulder-chest joint movement motor via the shoulder-chest joint movement arm. Simultaneously, the compensating motor drives the second end of the clavicle to rotate around the axis of the compensating motor via the connecting arm used to connect to the shoulder joint movement mechanism. Ultimately, the composite trajectory of the second end of the clavicle is an arc around the first end of the clavicle. This allows the patient's shoulder-chest movement to conform to the body's movement patterns, thereby helping the patient achieve better rehabilitation of upper limb motor abilities. Attached Figure Description

[0031] Other features, objects, and advantages of this application will become more apparent from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0032] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the upper limb assistive movement rehabilitation exoskeleton provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of an existing upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton for assisting patients' shoulder and chest movements.

[0034] Figure 3 for Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the principle of the upper and middle limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton for assistive movement of the patient's shoulder and chest;

[0035] Figure 4 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the wrist joint movement mechanism of an exoskeleton for assistive movement rehabilitation of the upper and middle limbs;

[0036] The diagram is labeled as follows: 1, frame; 21, shoulder-chest joint motion motor; 22, shoulder-chest joint motion arm; 23, compensation motor; 411, wrist joint rotation motor; 413, hand fixing component; 421, transmission gear; 422, semi-circular transmission component; 423, relative position adjustment component; 24, auxiliary support component; 211, shoulder-chest joint forward and backward movement; 212, shoulder-chest joint up and down movement; 51, seat; 52, pedal. Detailed Implementation

[0037] The present application will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and not intended to limit it. Furthermore, it should be noted that, for ease of description, only the parts relevant to the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0038] It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in this application can be combined with each other. This application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0039] Please refer to Figure 1 The upper limb assistive movement rehabilitation exoskeleton provided in this embodiment includes:

[0040] Frame 1;

[0041] The auxiliary motion structure comprises two sets, respectively installed on both sides of the frame 1, for assisting the patient in upper limb joint movements. From the point of contact with the frame 1 away from the frame 1, it includes, in sequence: a shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism, a shoulder joint movement mechanism, an elbow joint movement mechanism, and a wrist joint movement mechanism; wherein, the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism includes:

[0042] The shoulder-chest joint motion motor 21, the shoulder-chest joint motion arm 22, and the compensation motor 23 are provided. The shoulder-chest joint motion motor 21 is fixed on the frame 1, and its output end is connected to the first end of the shoulder-chest joint motion arm 22. The second end of the shoulder-chest joint motion arm 22 is used to fix the compensation motor 23. The output end of the compensation motor 23 is connected to the shoulder joint motion mechanism.

[0043] When the shoulder-chest joint motion motor 21 drives the shoulder-chest joint motion arm 22 to rotate to assist the patient's shoulder in forward and backward movement, the compensation motor 23 synchronously drives the shoulder joint motion mechanism, so that the patient's shoulder joint moves forward and backward with its shoulder-chest joint as the axis.

[0044] To address the issue of assisting patients in moving their shoulder and chest, the existing technology involves placing a shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism between the frame and the shoulder joint movement mechanism. This mechanism consists of a shoulder-chest joint movement motor and a shoulder-chest joint movement arm, and its movement principle is as follows: Figure 2As shown, when the patient wears the device, their shoulder and chest are positioned in front of the shoulder-chest joint motion motor. When the shoulder-chest joint motion motor drives the shoulder-chest joint motion arm to rotate around its own axis, it causes the clavicle between the patient's shoulder-chest joint and shoulder joint to rotate. The end of the clavicle closer to the head is called the first clavicle end, and the end farther from the head is called the second clavicle end. Because the shoulder-chest joint motion motor directly drives the clavicle rotation, during the rotation, the second clavicle end moves around the axis of the shoulder-chest joint motion motor, not around the patient's shoulder-chest joint. Its rotation trajectory naturally deviates from the normal movement trajectory of the patient's clavicle, making it difficult to provide positive assistance for the rehabilitation of the patient's shoulder-chest joint. Specifically, in the solution provided in this application, in addition to the aforementioned components, a compensating motor is also installed on the side of the shoulder-chest joint motion arm away from the shoulder-chest joint motion motor, such as... Figure 3 As shown, when the scapulothoracic joint motion motor rotates, the scapulothoracic joint motion arm drives the compensating motor to rotate around the axis of the scapulothoracic joint motion motor. At the same time, the compensating motor drives the second end of the clavicle to rotate around the axis of the compensating motor through the connecting arm used to connect the shoulder joint motion mechanism. Ultimately, the composite trajectory of the second end of the clavicle is an arc around the first end of the clavicle. In this way, the patient's scapulothoracic movement conforms to the body's movement laws, thereby helping the patient to achieve better rehabilitation of upper limb motor ability.

[0045] The wrist joint movement mechanism includes a wrist joint rotation assembly, which includes:

[0046] A wrist joint rotation motor 411 is fixed to a fixing member at the end of the elbow joint movement mechanism.

[0047] A transmission assembly, one end of which is connected to the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor 411;

[0048] A palm fixation member 413 is used to fix the patient's palm and is connected to the other end of the transmission assembly.

[0049] In existing technologies, the wrist joint movement mechanism is located at the end of the exoskeleton structure. It typically includes a hand fixation component for securing the patient's hand and a wrist joint rotation motor. The wrist joint rotation motor is connected to the exoskeleton structure via a connecting rod and is positioned upwards towards the middle finger when the patient's hand is extended. Once the patient has donned the exoskeleton, activating the wrist joint rotation motor causes the hand to rotate around the arm axis. However, in this method, the wrist joint rotation motor is positioned relatively far from where the exoskeleton is fixed to the frame, thus placing a significant load on the motor near the frame and reducing the device's lifespan. In the solution provided in this application, as... Figure 4As shown, the wrist joint rotation motor is mounted on the exoskeleton structure. Compared to the hand fixation component, it is closer to the frame relative to the exoskeleton. It drives the hand fixation component to rotate around the arm axis through the transmission component. Therefore, the heavier wrist joint rotation motor will have a relatively smaller load on the motor near the frame, which can increase the service life of the device.

[0050] The transmission assembly includes:

[0051] A transmission gear 421 is coaxially fixed to the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor 411.

[0052] A semi-circular transmission component 422 is rotatably connected to the fixed component at the end of the elbow joint movable mechanism and meshes with the transmission gear 421 around its central axis.

[0053] A relative position adjustment component 423 is disposed between the semi-circular transmission component 422 and the palm fixing component 413, and is used to adjust the relative position between the two so that the central axis of the semi-circular transmission component 422 is collinear with the axis of the patient's arm.

[0054] In existing technology, the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor is directly connected to the hand fixation component. The hand fixation component drives the patient's hand to rotate around the axis of the wrist joint rotation motor. Because the position of the arm axis relative to the hand fixation component varies among different patients wearing the device, it is easy for the axis of the wrist joint rotation motor to be misaligned with the patient's arm axis, potentially causing wrist injury. In this solution, however, if... Figure 4 As shown, the transmission assembly includes a transmission gear and a semi-circular transmission component. The transmission gear is coaxially connected to the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor and meshes with the semi-circular transmission component. The semi-circular transmission component is rotatably connected to a fixed component, and its rotational direction is about the central axis of the semi-circular transmission component. Figure 4 As shown, the semi-circular transmission component is held in place by two rolling clamps on each side. When the wrist joint rotation motor rotates, the transmission gear rotates accordingly, driving the semi-circular transmission component to rotate, which in turn drives the connected palm fixation component to rotate. Therefore, the rotation of the palm fixation component is centered on the central axis of the semi-circular transmission component. Compared to existing solutions, the central axis of the semi-circular transmission component is more likely to be collinear with the patient's arm axis because a relative position adjustment component is added between the palm fixation component and the semi-circular transmission component to adjust their relative position according to the arm being switched. In summary, the patient wrist rehabilitation device solution in this application is more beneficial for protecting the patient's wrist and helping them recover their motor function more quickly.

[0055] The shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism also includes an auxiliary support member, which is located between the middle of the shoulder-chest joint movement arm and the frame, and is used to provide an upward supporting force to the shoulder-chest joint movement arm.

[0056] The shoulder-chest joint motion motor 21 includes:

[0057] A shoulder-chest joint forward and backward movement motor 211 is fixed on the frame 1 and is used to drive the patient's shoulder to move forward and backward.

[0058] A shoulder-chest joint vertical movement motor 212 is connected to the output end of the shoulder-chest joint front-to-back movement motor 211 and is used to drive the patient's shoulder to move up and down. Its output end is connected to the shoulder-chest joint movable arm 22.

[0059] The shoulder joint movement mechanism includes:

[0060] A shoulder joint anterior-posterior movement component, one end of which is connected to the end of the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism, is used to drive the patient's upper arm to move forward and backward.

[0061] A shoulder joint vertical movement component, one end of which is connected to the other end of the shoulder joint anterior-posterior movement component, and the other end of which is connected to the elbow joint movement mechanism, the shoulder joint vertical movement component being used to drive the patient's upper arm to move up and down.

[0062] The wrist joint movement mechanism also includes:

[0063] A wrist joint vertical movement component, one end of which is connected to the end of the wrist joint rotation component, is used to drive the patient's palm to move up and down.

[0064] A wrist joint lateral movement component, one end of which is connected to the other end of the wrist joint vertical movement component, and the other end of which is connected to the palm fixation component 413, is used to drive the patient's palm end to move left and right.

[0065] It also includes a control mechanism, used to control the start and stop of each joint movement mechanism according to user instructions.

[0066] It also includes a seating mechanism connected to the frame 1 for patients to sit on, comprising a seat 51 and a footrest 52.

[0067] It also includes a moving mechanism, which is located at the bottom of the frame 1 and is used to assist the user in pushing the upper limb assistive movement rehabilitation exoskeleton.

[0068] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this application and an explanation of the technical principles employed. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of the invention involved in this application is not limited to technical solutions formed by specific combinations of the above-described technical features, but should also cover other technical solutions formed by arbitrary combinations of the above-described technical features or their equivalents without departing from the inventive concept. For example, technical solutions formed by substituting the above features with (but not limited to) technical features with similar functions disclosed in this application.

Claims

1. A fully driven upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton, characterized in that, include: Frame (1); The auxiliary motion structure comprises two sets, respectively installed on both sides of the frame (1), for assisting the patient in upper limb joint movements. From the side closest to the frame (1) away from the frame (1), it includes, in sequence: a shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism, a shoulder joint movement mechanism, an elbow joint movement mechanism, and a wrist joint movement mechanism; wherein the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism includes: Shoulder-chest joint motion motor (21), shoulder-chest joint motion arm (22), and compensation motor (23), wherein the shoulder-chest joint motion motor (21) is fixed on the frame (1), its output end is connected to the first end of the shoulder-chest joint motion arm (22), the second end of the shoulder-chest joint motion arm (22) is used to fix the compensation motor (23), and the output end of the compensation motor (23) is connected to the shoulder joint motion mechanism; When the shoulder-chest joint motion motor (21) drives the shoulder-chest joint motion arm (22) to rotate to assist the patient's shoulder in forward and backward movement, the compensation motor (23) synchronously drives the shoulder joint motion mechanism, so that the patient's shoulder joint moves forward and backward with its shoulder-chest joint as the axis.

2. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 1, characterized in that, The wrist joint movement mechanism includes a wrist joint rotation assembly, which includes: A wrist joint rotation motor (411) is fixed to a fixing member at the end of the elbow joint movement mechanism; A transmission assembly, one end of which is connected to the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor (411); A palm fixation member (413) is used to fix the patient's palm and is connected to the other end of the transmission assembly.

3. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 2, characterized in that, The transmission assembly includes: A transmission gear (421) is coaxially fixed to the output end of the wrist joint rotation motor (411); A semi-circular transmission component (422) is rotatably connected to the fixed component at the end of the elbow joint movable mechanism about its central axis and meshes with the transmission gear (421). A relative position adjustment member (423) is provided between the semi-circular transmission member (422) and the palm fixing member (413) to adjust the relative position between the two so that the central axis of the semi-circular transmission member (422) is collinear with the axis of the patient's arm.

4. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 1, characterized in that, The shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism also includes an auxiliary support (24), which is located between the middle of the shoulder-chest joint movement arm (22) and the frame (1) to provide an upward supporting force to the shoulder-chest joint movement arm (22).

5. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 1, characterized in that, The shoulder-chest joint motion motor (21) includes: Shoulder-chest joint anterior-posterior movement motor (211), the shoulder-chest joint anterior-posterior movement motor (211) is fixed on the frame (1) and is used to drive the patient's shoulder to move forward and backward; A shoulder-chest joint up-and-down motion motor (212) is connected to the output end of the shoulder-chest joint front-to-back motion motor (211) and is used to drive the patient's shoulder to move up and down. Its output end is connected to the shoulder-chest joint movable arm (22).

6. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 1, characterized in that, The shoulder joint movement mechanism includes: A shoulder joint anterior-posterior movement component, one end of which is connected to the end of the shoulder-chest joint movement mechanism, is used to drive the patient's upper arm to move forward and backward. A shoulder joint vertical movement component, one end of which is connected to the other end of the shoulder joint anterior-posterior movement component, and the other end of which is connected to the elbow joint movement mechanism, the shoulder joint vertical movement component being used to drive the patient's upper arm to move up and down.

7. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 2, characterized in that, The wrist joint movement mechanism also includes: A wrist joint vertical movement component, one end of which is connected to the end of the wrist joint rotation component, is used to drive the patient's palm to move up and down. A wrist joint left-right movement component, one end of which is connected to the other end of the wrist joint up-down movement component, and the other end of which is connected to the palm fixation component (413), is used to drive the patient's palm end to move left and right.

8. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, Also includes: The control mechanism is used to control the start and stop of each joint movement mechanism according to the user's instructions.

9. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 8, characterized in that, Also includes: A seating mechanism, which is connected to the frame (1) and is used for patients to sit on.

10. The upper limb assistive motor rehabilitation exoskeleton according to claim 9, characterized in that, Also includes: The mobile mechanism (6) is located at the bottom of the frame (1) and is used to assist the user in pushing the upper limb assistive movement rehabilitation exoskeleton.

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