Wrist exoskeletons play a vital role in rehabilitation and assistive applications, yet conventional actuation mechanisms such as electric motors or pneumatics often introduce undesirable weight, friction, and complexity. This paper presents a novel single-cable (tendon), torsional-spring-assisted actuation mechanism for wrist abduction-adduction, and a simulation-based method for selecting its stiffness parameters. The mechanism employs a single Bowden cable passively tensioned by a spiral torsional spring (clock spring) to maintain continuous cable tension without antagonistic actuation. Kinematic and dynamic modeling of the mechanism was performed to estimate the required torque and identify optimal spring parameters. These simulation-derived parameters guided the design of a functional prototype, which was experimentally evaluated with five participants with no motor disabilities (NMD) under varying arm positions and loading conditions using three spring configurations to account for user variability and modeling uncertainties. Experimental results show consistent agreement with simulation-derived trends, with the nominal spring configuration achieving balanced motion range, torque demand, and repeatability. The results demonstrate that simulation-informed stiffness selection can effectively guide the design of compact, cable-driven wrist exoskeletons while reducing reliance on empirical tuning.

翻译：腕部外骨骼在康复和辅助应用中发挥着关键作用，然而传统的驱动机构（如电机或气动装置）常会引入不必要的重量、摩擦和复杂性。本文提出了一种新颖的单缆（肌腱）、扭簧辅助的腕部外展-内收驱动机构，以及一种基于仿真的刚度参数选择方法。该机构采用由螺旋扭簧被动张紧的单根鲍登线缆，无需对抗式驱动即可维持连续线缆张力。建立了该机构的运动学与动力学模型，以估算所需力矩并确定最优弹簧参数。基于这些仿真得出的参数指导了功能性样机的设计，并在三名无运动障碍受试者中进行了实验评估，测试涵盖不同手臂位置和负载条件，并采用三种弹簧配置以考虑用户差异和建模不确定性。实验结果表明，与仿真趋势具有一致性：标称弹簧配置在运动范围、力矩需求和重复性之间取得了平衡。研究结果证实，基于仿真的刚度选择可有效指导紧凑型缆驱动腕部外骨骼的设计，同时减少对经验调谐的依赖。