Virtual Reality-based System for Ankle Rehabilitation Post Stroke

The Rutgers Ankle is a compact Stewart-platform type robot used in ankle rehabilitation. It can measure displacements and apply forces/torques in six degrees of freedom. Two rehabilitation simulations resembling video games have been developed. One is an airplane flying exercise; the other is a boat navigation exercise. Both are executed with the ankle, using the Rutgers Ankle as a haptic joystick. To allow the patients to complete the routines, the simulations are customized to their abilities. Furthermore, the exercise complexity, as well as visual and haptic effects are set by the therapist, and can also be changed in real-time. A database stores exercise results and presents them in graph format remotely. Initial pilot trials with three chronic post-stroke individuals, of the above system were encouraging.