A novel kinematic architecture for portable hand exoskeletons

Abstract

Basing on strict requirements of portability, low cost and modularity, an assistive device for hand-opening impairment, characterized by an innovative mechanism, has been developed and tested by the authors. This robotic orthosis is designed to be a low-cost and portable hand exoskeleton to assist people with hand-opening impairment in their everyday lives. The mechanism has been especially studied for this kind of applications and presents some interesting features in terms of limited encumbrances and costs. Concerning the hand-opening impairment, the authors have also developed a methodology which, starting from the geometrical characteristics of the patient's hand, properly defines the novel kinematic mechanism that better fits the finger trajectories. The authors have tested and validated the proposed approach by building a functional Hand Exoskeleton System (HES) prototype. The preliminary testing phase of the prototype with a single subject is concluded; currently, a group of subjects is testing the proposed HES methodology in collaboration with a rehabilitation center.

Rehabilitative and assistive wearable mechatronic upper-limb devices: A review

“…These devices can be further sorted into physiological signals, which are electrically representative signals of internal physiological processes of the human body, and biomechanical signals, which are signals measuring the outwards motion performed by the human body, such as joint position and exerted force. The use of sensor Allotta et al [43][44][45] Fingers-FE Chiri et al 51,52 Finger-E In et al 57,58 Fingers-FE Thumb-FE EMG, force, position…”

Rehabilitative Hand Exoskeleton System: A New Modular Mechanical Design for a Remote Actuated Device

“…The exploitation of the 3D-printing technique for manufacturing has lightened the development chain from the constraints of the standard production processes. A wholly tailor-made device (geometrically optimized to reproduce at best the anatomical finger trajectories of the user) can thus be easily and quickly developed thanks to an accurate study of the device kinematics [6], and to an automatic optimization procedure [7]. The proposed HES, to preserve the studies mentioned above, has maintained the same structure of the finger mechanism.…”

“…Thanks to the know-how in the manufacturing and development of HESs acquired in recent years by the MDM Lab researchers' efforts at UNIFI [5], the current work has benefited from a solid foundation from which to start. Indeed, the overall architecture of the hand exoskeleton mechanism of the proposed system consists of a re-designing of the one described in detail in [6], which implies the necessary modifications to use the Bowden cable-based RAS and improve its performances.…”

A Finger Grip Force Sensor with an Open-Pad Structure for Glove-Type Assistive Devices

“…To assist reduced grip strength or prevent WMSDs, many assistive hand exoskeletons have been developed [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] that detect the intention of the wearer's intention via fingerpad contact forces [17][18][19][20], finger motion [20][21][22][23][24], surface electromyography (sEMG) [25][26][27], or multimodal sensing [28]. Although the measurement of fingerpad contact force enables the acquisition of individual finger forces with simple sensors, the tactile sensation of the wearer is inevitably diminished because of the presence of the force sensor between the fingerpad and object being manipulated.…”