Design and fabrication of an exoskeleton for the rehabilitation of hand fingers

The hand plays a crucial role in daily activities; injury or paralysis significantly reduces independence. Therefore, robotic hand exoskeletons have been developed to restore motor function safely and effectively. Considering the major role of the hand in daily activities, many researchers have been working on hand rehabilitation exoskeletons. This research presents the design and implementation of a tendon-driven exoskeleton for finger rehabilitation. Continuous passive motion devices are used to maintain and restore the range of motion of the joints. The exoskeleton has been designed to help patients easily perform functional tasks. To achieve this goal, an adjustable thimble mechanism with flexible filament and a finger guide was designed. Also, this design provides the necessary force to fully guide the fingers through the whole range of motion of the joints. The designed mechanism has been modeled and simulated in MATLAB software. It has also been tested on healthy human subjects. Recorded images from the index finger in a complete range of motion have been analyzed to find the finger trajectory during flexion. The metacarpophalangeal joint of the index finger in healthy subjects has a range of motion between ۰ and ۹۰ degrees, while the exoskeleton can provide a range of motion between ۰ and ۹۴ degrees. Results show that the designed exoskeleton can provide sufficient force and an acceptable range of motion for patients up to level ۲ of the Ashworth scale, which is acceptable for most different and functional varieties of continuous passive motion exoskeletons.

کلیدواژه ها:

Exoskeleton ، Finger rehabilitation ، Continuous passive motion exoskeleton ، Tendon based ، Finger kinematics