Design requirements for a tendon rehabilitation robot: results from a survey of engineers And health professionals

Abstract

Exoskeleton type finger rehabilitation robots are helpful in assisting the treatment of tendon injuries. A survey has been carried out with engineers and health pro- fessionals to further develop an existing finger exoskeleton prototype. The goal of the study is to better understand the relative importance of several design cri- teria through the analysis of survey results and to improve the finger exoskeleton accordingly. The survey questions with strong correlations are identified and the preferences of the two respondent groups are statistically compared. The results of the statistical analysis are interpreted and insights obtained are used to guide the design process. The answers to the qualitative questions are also discussed together with their design implications. Finally, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been employed for visualizing these functional requirements in rela- tion to the customer requirements