The Design of Rehabilitation Device for Upper Limb After Stroke Using an Integrated Design Process

Abstract

The design and development of most robotic rehabilitation devices are primarily led by engineers. This causes over-specification, high cost, poor usability, and thus medical professionals avoid operating these devices. This study is an attempt to solve the above problems and propose a user-friendly upper limb rehabilitation device by adopting human-centred and context-based design methods. An integrated design process was employed for the design of an upper-limb rehabilitation device for stroke survivors. The design process was initiated in collaboration with four stakeholders. These include two medical and rehabilitation experts from two different hospitals, an engineer from electronic equipment company, and an industrial design team from a well-known research institute in South Korea. The collaboration among these stakeholders guided the design process to determine the problem areas in utilizing robotic rehabilitation procedures for stroke survivors in the hospital context. These problems were categorized in four areas: medical environment, robotic rehabilitation practice, exercise and training procedures, and hospital systems. Based on these areas, the design process was furthered to develop a system-level design and partially the detailed design of the new device. The outcomes of the design process include a functional prototype of the robotic rehabilitation device and a patent application. These outcomes endorsed the integrated design process for smart rehabilitation methods. This study presents important insights for designers in the healthcare domain to employ design leadership to engage engineers and other medical experts to further explore design possibilities in post-product concept design development in the medical context.