A Novel Soft Glove for Hand Tremor Suppression: Evaluation of Layer Jamming Actuator Placement

Awantha, W. V. I.; Wanasinghe, Ashan T.; Kavindya, A.G.P.; Kulasekera, Asitha L.; Chathuranga, Damith Suresh

doi:10.1109/robosoft48309.2020.9115994

Cited by 26 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Finally, jamming actuators were also proposed as a solution for tremor management. Awantha et al developed a soft glove for hand tremor suppression based on jamming actuators that stiffened the joint when vacuum was supplied and created resistance to the tremor motion ( 62 ). A prosthetic hand simulating finger tremor of 15 tremor patients was used to evaluate this device, while two different combinations of jamming elements and actuator placements were tested.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on Wearable Technologies for Tremor Suppression

et al. 2021

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Tremor is defined as a rhythmic, involuntary oscillatory movement of a body part. Although everyone exhibits a certain degree of tremor, some pathologies lead to very disabling tremors. These pathological tremors constitute the most prevalent movement disorder, and they imply severe difficulties in performing activities of daily living. Although tremors are currently managed through pharmacotherapy or surgery, these treatments present significant associated drawbacks: drugs often induce side effects and show decreased effectiveness over years of use, while surgery is a hazardous procedure for a very low percentage of eligible patients. In this context, recent research demonstrated the feasibility of managing upper limb tremors through wearable technologies that suppress tremors by modifying limb biomechanics or applying counteracting forces. Furthermore, recent experiments with transcutaneous afferent stimulation showed significant tremor attenuation. In this regard, this article reviews the devices developed following these tremor management paradigms, such as robotic exoskeletons, soft robotic exoskeletons, and transcutaneous neurostimulators. These works are presented, and their effectiveness is discussed. The article also evaluates the different metrics used for the validation of these devices and the lack of a standard validation procedure that allows the comparison among them.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on Wearable Technologies for Tremor Suppression

et al. 2021

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“…To test the soft glove, a mechanical hand model was fabricated with the ability to imitate hand tremors between 3 and 6 Hz. The results showed a maximum of 78.3% decrease in tremor amplitude when the LJS was placed on the palm side, and a 38.2% improvement was reported on the dorsal side [53].…”

Section: Semi-active Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…The device prototype was tried on nine subjects and showed a 41% decrease in tremors in the ON-state, while it had a negligible effect on voluntary motion in the OFF-state [52]. Another study conducted by Awantha and colleagues in 2020 utilized a layer jamming structure (LJS) in suppressing hand tremor [53]. They attempted to eliminate finger tremor by fastening layer jamming and applying resistance to finger motion.…”

Section: Semi-active Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jamming structures have variable stiffnesses and are typically made of particles, stacked layers, or axially oriented fibers enclosed in an envelope. Recently developed laminar soft actuators have been utilized in hand tremor suppressors due to their ability to mitigate hand tremors both in the wrist [52] and fingers [53]. Various materials, such as paper, elastomers, polyester films, and sandpaper, have been studied as laminar structures to obtain the desired stiffness.…”

Section: Laminar Jamming Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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4D printing of soft orthoses for tremor suppression

et al. 2022

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Tremor is an involuntary and oscillatory movement disorder that makes daily activities difficult for affected patients. Hand tremor-suppression orthoses are noninvasive, wearable devices designed to mitigate tremors. Various studies have shown that these devices are effective, economical, and safe; however, they have drawbacks such as large weight, awkward shape, and rigid parts. This study investigates different types of tremor-suppression orthoses and discusses their efficiency, mechanism, benefits, and disadvantages. First, various orthoses (with passive, semi-active, and active mechanisms) are described in detail. Next, we look at how additive manufacturing (AM) has progressed recently in making sensors and actuators for application in tremor orthoses. Then, the materials used in AM are further analyzed. It is found that traditional manufacturing problems can be solved with the help of AM techniques, like making orthoses that are affordable, lighter, and more customizable. Another concept being discussed is using smart materials and AM methods, such as four-dimensional (4D) printing, to make orthoses that are more comfortable and efficient. Graphic abstract

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“…During the last decade, the evolution of technology in an exponential pace has led to the investigation of alternative ways to suppress tremor. As a result, passive and active orthotic devices have been developed and manufactured, including exoskeletons capable of reducing different tremor characteristics (amplitude, frequency) on different joints of the upper limbs: fingers [6][7][8], wrist [9,10], elbow [11][12][13][14][15], as well as multiple upper-limb joints [16][17][18]. Moreover, research-oriented and commercial solutions aim at ET suppression during tasks of everyday life such as food-consuming activities [19][20][21] or handwriting [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Essential Hand Tremor Suppression via Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

2021

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Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders and can occur unexpectedly and develop indefinitely to any population unit. According to the recorded statistics of people suffering from ET, the disorder affects 5% of people worldwide, thus creating an ever-increasing need to investigate ways for its suppression and treatment. In this article, we investigate the capability of Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) to reduce or even suppress ET leading to the relief of the sufferers. In our work, we designed and constructed two iterations of a glovelike setup and attempted to explore the possibility of suppressing ET on different parts of the hand by exerting force on the index finger and metacarpal region. For both glove iterations, we established an experimental protocol based on the adjustment of a force controller. Finally, we evaluated exhaustively the performance of our setup under multiple motion scenarios with the participation of an ET-diagnosed volunteer.

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A Novel Soft Glove for Hand Tremor Suppression: Evaluation of Layer Jamming Actuator Placement

Cited by 26 publications

References 11 publications

A Review on Wearable Technologies for Tremor Suppression

A Review on Wearable Technologies for Tremor Suppression

4D printing of soft orthoses for tremor suppression

Towards Essential Hand Tremor Suppression via Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

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