Electromechanical design of a body weight support system for a therapeutic robot for rodent studies

Author(s)
Mayalu, Michaëlle Ntala
Thumbnail
DownloadFull printable version (4.357Mb)
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.
Advisor
Neville Hogan.
Terms of use
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
As part of an ongoing effort to better understand and treat locomotor disorders, an over-ground therapeutic robot prototype to study recovery of locomotion after spinal cord injury in rodents is under development. One key element of the therapeutic robot is a system to support the partial body weight of a freely-moving rodent. This paper discusses the design requirements, fabrication, modeling, calibration and preliminary analysis of a highly back-drivable bodyweight support system prototype. In addition, a closed loop feedback control system was designed, simulated, constructed and tested. Hardware limitations were identified, and alternative control techniques were explored.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.
 
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
 
Includes bibliographical references (p. 23).
 
Date issued
2010
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59946
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Mechanical Engineering.
Collections