Design and Virtual Prototyping of Rehabilitation Aids

This paper presents the methodology for user-customized design of a class of one-of-a-kind assistive devices. This class consists of passive, articulated mechanical manipulation aids which are physically coupled to the user and require customization to the user to achieve the desired performance. Data acquired from the user is used to create a virtual model of the user. The designed product is then customized and iteratively refined by simulating along with the virtual human model in an integrated virtual environment. Geometric and kinematic data acquisition, mechanism design and analysis, CAD/CAM and visualization modules aid the designer is this process. A head-controlled feeding aid for quadriplegics is used to illustrate the approach.