The present work, which describes the mechatronic design and development of a novel rehabilitation robotic exoskeleton hand, aims to present a solution for neuromusculoskeletal rehabilitation. It presents a full range of motion for all hand phalanges and was specifically designed to carry out position and force-position control for passive and active rehabilitation routines. System integration and preliminary clinical tests are also presented.

The use of photovoltaic (PV) systems is increasingly growing in importance since they involve an exploitation of solar radiation constituting an energy source which is renewable, available in most places, and pollution-free. Despite their numerous advantages, PV systems have two major drawbacks: low energy conversion efficiency and loss of energy due to variations in meteorological conditions; for this reason, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control techniques play a key role in exploiting the maximum energy caught by PV modules. This paper presents a brief review of the main MPPT strategies: general characteristics, advantages, and drawbacks of the proposed methods are discussed.

This paper presents the control design for the regulation and trajectory tracking tasks of the non-minimum phase output voltage of a DC-DC Boost-type power converter. The proposed approach exploits the differential flatness property of the system leading to a control strategy whose benefits include a simple derivation based on the parameterization of the control input and a zero steady-state error in the system response due to the establishment of predefined stable error dynamics. The main contribution of this paper is that the proposed controller is robust against power supply variations that may arise from the use of renewable energy sources. Furthermore, it is also robust against load variations that are normally related to energy consumption demands. These aspects are disregarded in most of the existing control techniques. A successful validation of the effectiveness of the flatness-based control system is carried out through numerical simulations and experimental tests performed in a built prototype of the system.

Virtual environments (VEs) and haptic devices increase patients’ motivation. Furthermore, they observe their performance during rehabilitation. However, some of these technologies present disadvantages because they do not consider therapists’ needs and experience. This research presents the development and usability evaluation of an upper limb rehabilitation system based on a user-centered design approach for patients with moderate or mild stroke that can perform active rehabilitation. The system consists of a virtual environment with four virtual scenarios and a developed haptic device with vibrotactile feedback, and it can be visualized using a monitor or a Head-Mounted Display (HMD). Two evaluations were carried out; in the first one, five therapists evaluated the system’s usability using a monitor through the System Usability Scale, the user experience with the AttrakDiff questionnaire, and the functionality with customized items. As a result of these tests, improvements were made to the system. The second evaluation was carried out by ten volunteers who evaluated the usability, user experience, and performance with a monitor and HMD. A comparison of the therapist and volunteer scores has shown an increase in the usability evaluation (from 78 to >85), the hedonic score rose from 0.6 to 2.23, the pragmatic qualities from 1.25 to 2.20, and the attractiveness from 1.3 to 2.95. Additionally, the haptic device and the VE showed no relevant difference between their performance when using a monitor or HMD. The results show that the proposed system has the characteristics to be a helpful tool for therapists and upper limb rehabilitation.