Optimized intelligent control of a 2-degree of freedom robot for rehabilitation of lower limbs using neural network and genetic algorithm

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing trend in using robots for medical purposes. One specific area is rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is one of the non-drug treatments in community health which means the restoration of the abilities to maximize independence. It is a prolonged work and costly labor. On the other hand, by using the flexible and efficient robots in rehabilitation area, this process will be more useful for handicapped patients. METHODS: In this study, a rule-based intelligent control methodology is proposed to mimic the behavior of a healthy limb in a satisfactory way by a 2-DOF planar robot. Inverse kinematic of the planar robot will be solved by neural networks and control parameters will be optimized by genetic algorithm, as rehabilitation progress. RESULTS: The results of simulations are presented by defining a physiotherapy simple mode on desired trajectory. MATLAB/Simulink is used for simulations. The system is capable of learning the action of the physiotherapist for each patient and imitating this behaviour in the absence of a physiotherapist that can be called robotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, a therapeutic exercise planar 2-DOF robot is designed and controlled for lower-limb rehabilitation. The robot manipulator is controlled by combination of hybrid and adaptive controls. Some safety factors and stability constraints are defined and obtained. The robot is stopped when the safety factors are not satisfied. Kinematics of robot is estimated by an MLP neural network and proper control parameters are achieved using GA optimization.