Abstract This paper presents a variable stiffness mechanism suitable for use in robotic rehabilitation. By inherently varying both the magnitude and direction of loading in the mechanism using a single input, a large variation in effective stiffness is achieved. Design and analysis of the variable stiffness mechanism are presented, along with an example illustrating performance capabilities. The paper goes on to present a serial robot for upper limb rehabilitation whose noteworthy characteristics are a degree of redundancy and variable stiffness in its four active degrees of freedom. These traits make the robot suitable for various rehabilitation tasks. The kinematic solution is derived, and simulations of two characteristic movements demonstrate how the variable stiffness and redundancy contribute to task performance.

中文翻译：

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具有可变刚度机构的冗余康复机器人

摘要 本文提出了一种适用于机器人康复的可变刚度机构。通过使用单个输入固有地改变机构中载荷的大小和方向，实现了有效刚度的较大变化。介绍了可变刚度机构的设计和分析，以及说明性能能力的示例。该论文继续介绍一种用于上肢康复的串行机器人，其显着特征是其四个主动自由度的冗余度和可变刚度。这些特性使机器人适用于各种康复任务。运动学解决方案被推导出来，两个特征运动的模拟展示了可变刚度和冗余如何有助于任务性能。