A Low-Cost Wearable Rehabilitation Device

Stroke or accidental disabilities has increased in number due to various reasons. Physiotherapeutic rehabilitation of any kind is a lengthy and expensive process. Moreover, due to the scarcity of physiotherapist and rehabilitation centers in developing countries like Bangladesh, makes it even more difficult for most patients to get due time support. In this paper, a cheaper alternative to conventional rehabilitation program is proposed with the use of a motion capture device that utilizes an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) sensor. This device is capable of recording movements and store the data for further analysis. This enables a patient to perform certain rehabilitation exercises at home without the need for an instructor to be physically present during the exercise to guide or asses the patient. The motion capture sensor used in this project, is an IMU with 6 D.O.F (Degrees of Freedom) to obtain patients' body part (upper limb in this prototype) rotations in 3 dimensions. The sensor is composed of a 3-axis accelerometer that measures the acceleration and force producing it. Also, a 3-axis gyroscope that helps to determine orientation by using Earth's gravity. The sensor data is coupled with an Arduino for data processing and storage. This device is very small, and the sensor accuracy is almost the same as expensive mobile phones. It shows 0.855 correlation with the similar data from Samsung A50 mobile phone. The cost of our first prototype is under 30 USD.