The multimodal robotic arm user control systems consisted
of three parts: a PC workstation, the different controller types
(default joystick, keyboard or 3D joystick), and the actuated
robotic arm (JACO
TM
Robot Manipulator from Kinova
Technology as shown in Figure 1). The default controller for
the JACO arm is a traditional joystick to control the movement
of certain elements (i.e. arm, wrist) in two dimensions (see top
of Figure 2). Movement of the robotic arm in the 3
rd
dimension
requires rotation of the joystick knob. This motion is extremely
difficult or even impossible for individuals to perform with
complete high-level (Cervical levels 1-8) SCIs.