Development of a polymer-based tendon-driven wearable robotic hand

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a polymer-based tendon-driven wearable robotic hand, Exo-Glove Poly. Unlike the previously developed Exo-Glove, a fabric-based tendon-driven wearable robotic hand, Exo-Glove Poly was developed using silicone to allow for sanitization between users in multiple-user environments such as hospitals. Exo-Glove Poly was developed to use two motors, one for the thumb and the other for the index/middle finger, and an under-actuation mechanism to grasp various objects. In order to realize Exo-Glove Poly, design features and fabrication processes were developed to permit adjustment to different hand sizes, to protect users from injury, to enable ventilation, and to embed Teflon tubes for the wire paths. The mechanical properties of Exo-Glove Poly were verified with a healthy subject through a wrap grasp experiment using a mat-type pressure sensor and an under-actuation performance experiment with a specialized test set-up. Finally, performance of the Exo-Glove Poly for grasping various shapes of object was verified, including objects needing under-actuation.

mano: A Wearable Hand Exoskeleton for Activities of Daily Living and Neurorehabilitation

“…For example, the NASA RoboGlove [10] and Soft Extra Muscle [11] devices exploit artificial tendons to actively control fingers flexion. Similar concepts are used in the Soft Robotics Exoskeleton [12], in the Exo-Glove [13], and in the Exo-Glove Poly [14]. Although lightweight on the hands, these devices mainly suffer from hindering natural somatosensation on palms and fingertips or from the lack of control over both flexion and extension of fingers.…”

“…Each task was repeated 10 times (trials) for each condition. In the Exoskeleton trials, the device was worn on the right hand and the subject was instructed to restrain any voluntary hand motion in order to let the exoskeleton autonomously [11] Thumb, medium, ring Flexion 12 ∼650 ∼50 Absent Limited Nycz et al [12] All Flexion, extension n/a n/a ∼50 Absent Absent In et al [13] Thumb, index, medium Flexion, extension 20 n/a 194 Absent Absent Kang et al [14] Thumb, index, medium Flexion, extension 29.5 1630 ∼50 Absent Limited Polygerinos et al [15] All Flexion 40 3300 285 Full Absent Varalta et al [16] All Flexion, extension n/a 5000 ∼50 Full Absent implement the task. During the experiment, the beginning and the end of each trial were signaled by graphical cues on a computer screen.…”

Hand Rehabilitation after Chronic Brain Damage: Effectiveness, Usability and Acceptance of Technological Devices: A Pilot Study

“…Most of the evidences about effectiveness of GDs are based in pilot studies with non-commercial prototypes [26][27][28][29][30], but nowadays, there are also several commercial glove-like devices that support hand rehabilitation therapies for these patients such as HandTutor ® [31,32], Music Glove [33][34][35], Rapael Smart Glove [36] or CyberTouch [16,37]. The main disadvantages of GDs are price, availability, because they are not yet widespread, and in some case the difficulty of setup handling and ergonomics.…”

Introductory Chapter: Toward Near-Natural Assistive Devices

“…Cyberdyne's HAL Lower Limb, Rewalk's Rewalk Personal and Rewalk Rehabilitation, and Rex Bionics' Rex P among many others provide lower limb rehabilitation and walking platforms for those with paralysis. Exoskeletons also exist in the academic research field, including ExoGlove Poly [26], the Wyss Institute's Soft Robotic Glove [34], HandSOME [12], Pisa/IIT SoftHand [10], and several others [8,31], which serve as platforms to research novel control algorithms.…”