Stroke commonly results in abnormal muscle synergy, spasticity, muscle weakness and neural couplings. Stroke patients often present with movement deficits with respect to range of motion (ROM), joint coordination, and movement smoothness in the affected arm and hand. Our previous work showed that HandSOME, a spring-powered hand exoskeleton that compensates for flexor tone in the fingers and thumb, improves ROM and function while worn. This study aims to 1) investigate if an independent home therapy program using HandSOME can improve unassisted ROM and functional grasp of the affected hand, and 2) to design a portable and light-weight exoskeleton suitable for home based arm rehabilitation. This dissertation was broken into three components. 1) Design, testing and evaluation of HandSOME II2) Exoskeleton for Upper Limb Rehabilitation with Series Elastic Actuator and Cable-driven Differential3) Design and prototyping of a low inertia 3 DOF shoulder exoskeleton for upper limb rehabilitation.
