Cable Actuated Dexterous (CADEX) Glove for Effective Rehabilitation of the Hand for Patients with Neurological Diseases

Abstract

Neuroplastic changes in motor cortex is essential for the recovery motor function of patients with neurological diseases. To enlarge neuroplastic change, various movements should be provided to stimulate larger motor cortical area, and because hands occupy the largest area, it is especially important. Many wearable robotic devices have been developed for rehabilitation of the hand, and soft robotic devices in particular have drawn attention for their compact design. However, most soft devices provide simple thumb motions, which flex or extend all joints without assistance of opposition/reposition of the carpometacarpal joint although the importance in producing various grasps. In this study, the design of a cable actuated dexterous (CADEX) glove is proposed. For dexterous motion, the structure and orientation of major finger tendons were replicated with exotendons (actuated cables), and four exotendons were used for the thumb with the path optimized to provide flexion/extension of the thumb and decoupled opposition/reposition of the carpometacarpal with other joints. To provide consistent motion, silicon was used for stable anchoring of exotendons while preventing slippage and reducing deformation. The motion generated by the CADEX glove was experimentally evaluated for a single healthy subject. The result shows that the CADEX glove could flex and extend the finger with various ratios among joints, and the opposition/reposition of carpometacarpal joint of the thumb could be achieved consistently with minimal effect on the other joints. The CADEX glove is expected to help providing various tasks which is expected to enhance the functional recovery of patients with neurological disease.

Meeting Name

2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2018 (2018: Oct. 1-5, Madrid, Spain)

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Laboratory

Keywords and Phrases

Cables; Intelligent robots; Neurology; Robotics, Actuated cables; Carpometacarpal joint; Functional recovery; Healthy subjects; Minimal effects; Neurological disease; Neuroplastic changes; Structure and orientation, Patient rehabilitation

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-153868094-0

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2153-0858; 2153-0866

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2018 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Oct 2018

Link to Full Text

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