Assistive Devices For People With Motor Disabilities

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Assistive Devices For People With Motor Disabilities

Vijay Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering
222, Towne Building
220S, 33rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6315
e-mail: kumar at central.cis.upenn.edu

Tariq Rahman
Applied Science and Engineering Laboratories
Alfred I. duPont Institute and University of Delaware
1600 Rockland Road, P.O. Box 269
Wilmington, DE 19899
e-mail: rahman at asel.udel.edu

Venkat Krovi
Department of Mechanical Engineering
297, Towne Building
220S, 33rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6315
e-mail: venkat at grip.cis.upenn.edu

To appear in the Wiley Encyclopaedia of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
Assistive Devices For People With Motor Disabilities -
Kumar, Rahman & Krovi, 1997

<http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~venkat/PUBLICATIONS/Wiley.pdf>

There are many examples of assistive devices for people with manipulative
and locomotive disabilities. These devices enable disabled people perform
many activities of daily living thus improving their quality of life.
Disabled people are increasingly able to lead an independent life and play
a more productive role in society. In the case of disabled children, such
assistive devices have been shown to be critical to their cognitive,
physical and social development (1).

The earliest assistive devices were prothetic limbs, dating back to 500 B.
C. (2). The early wheelchairs, in contrast, found widespread use less than
300 years ago. These simple prothestic limbs and wheelchairs have since
evolved into more complex multi-degree-of-freedom mechanical and
elecromechanical devices. In particular, robotic technology has been used
to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities, primarily by
enhancing a person's capability for independent living and vocational
productivity. An assistive robot (also called a rehabilitation robot), may
be viewed as being distinct from a prosthesis in that it may not attached
to the user, but may reside on a table top, or on the side of a
wheelchair, or on an independent mobile base. However, this distinction
may blur in the case of electro-mechanical aids that are worn by the user.

The goal of this article to review the state of the art in the technology
for assistive devices for people with disabilities, with a particular
focus on the technology that is loosely referred to as robotics. In the
process, we review research that has been done by us and by other groups
on assistive devices for manipulation and locomotion. We will be less
interested in examples of devices that simply perform the mechanical
function of a person's limb and instead focus on assistive aids that have
broader applications. Further therapeutic applications are beyond the
scope of this article. Similarly, orthoses that strengthen limbs and
spines, or prevent deformities are not considered here. Instead the main
goal is to provide the reader with an understanding of how the technology
and science that underlies robotics can be used to develop assistive
devices for people with manipulative and locomotive disabilities.