Objective Considering the desktop upper limb rehabilitation robot’s disadvantages as bulky and difficult to move, a novel wearable upper-limb rehabilitation robot was developed, then, its kinematic characteristics were analyzed and joint torques were calculated to verify the rationality of the design.Methods Firstly, The overall structure of the robot was designed under the modular design principle.Then, the robot’s 3D model was established by SOLIDWORKS, and the kinematics simulations of the motion of the elbow flexion and extension, shoulder flexion and extension, and shoulder-elbow linkage flexion and extension were done with SOILDWORKS Motion respectively.Finally, the dynamic equations were established based on Lagrange’s equation, and the changing curves of joint torque of the mechanical arm were calculated by MATLAB.Results The simulation results verified the smooth motion of shoulder joint, elbow joint and wrist joint, and the dynamic analysis proved that the changing curves of joint torque was smooth, and the maximum joint torques were less than the rated torques of the motors after deceleration.Conclusions The above results proved the reasonability of the design, which laid a theoretical founation for the follow-up study of the upper-limb rehabilitation robot.