Mechanical design of an upper limb robotic rehabilitation system.

Physical diseases have become an alarming social problem worldwide. Several conditions related to limb mobility are more frequent due to a high level of demand in the repetitive execution of activities. Assistive technologies have been proposed to improve the experience of physical rehabilitation. This paper presents a framework with the mechanical design criteria for an upper limb assistive robotic system. We define the design specifications and construction characteristics of an assistive system. As a result, a 7-degree-of-freedom system for upper limb physical rehabilitation is designed with a novel characteristic of arm-switching configuration for the treatment of both arms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]