Maryland-Georgetown-Army Exoskeleton

exoskeleton-rendered The Maryland-Georgetown-Army (MGA) Exoskeleton is an upper arm robotic exoskeleton being developed for assessment and rehabilitation of shoulder pathology. There are five degrees of freedom in the robot: three joints for shoulder rotation, one for elbow flexion/extension, and one for scapula elevation/depression. The exoskeleton will be used to assess arm strength, speed, and range of motion using onboard sensors, and function as both a resistance trainer and virtual reality tool for rehabilitation. Operation of the device will be monitored by a computer-controlled safety system based on an architecture developed for a NASA robotic flight experiment.

This project is a joint venture between the Georgetown University Imaging Science and Information Systems (ISIS) Center and the Space Systems Laboratory (SSL). The robotic hardware will be built, tested, and integrated by the SSL robotics group, and the ISIS Center will lead the controls effort and assist with the kinematic design, electronics, and operations.