Virtual Environment for Rehabilitation of Upper Distal Limb Using a Haptic Device with Adaptive Impedance Control and Neural Compensation: A Preliminary Proposal

This research presents a preliminary proposal for a rehabilitation exercise aimed at patients with muscle weakness in the distal upper limb. A virtual environment was developed, where the user engages in a rehabilitation activity focused on rehabilitating the pinch grip. The goal is to strengthen the patient’s grasp and reduce muscle weakness. The virtual environment was designed as a video game in order to generate greater interest and encourage patients to adhere to their rehabilitation activities. This virtual game utilizes the haptic device Novint Falcon for the interaction with the environment. This preliminary work implements an impedance control with neural compensation; the control strategy produces signals to adapt the force exerted by the patient, with the goal that the device can give a force of the same magnitude but in the opposite direction. Consequently, regardless of the patient’s initial strength, the device will always deliver an assistive force to guide the patient along a desired trajectory. Initial experimental results with the proposed virtual-haptic rehabilitation system are presented, indicating the feasibility of the approach; however, further studies are required to validate its clinical effectiveness.