Paper Info
Title
An automatic scaling procedure for a wearable and portable hand exoskeleton
Abstract
The design of an aid for the hand function based on exoskeleton technologies for patients who have lost or injured hand skills, e.g. because of neuromuscular or aging diseases, is one of the most influential challenge in modern robotics to assure them an independent and healthy life. This research activity is focused on the design and development of a low-cost Hand Exoskeleton System (HES) for supporting patients affected by hand opening disabilities during the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). In addition, the device, able to exert suitable forces on the hand, can be used during the rehabilitative sessions to implement specific tasks useful to restore the dexterity of the user's hand. The hand exoskeleton system, developed by the MDM Lab (Mechatronic and Dynamic Modelling Laboratory of the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Italy), is based on a single-phalanx architecture and consists of a mechanical part (mechanism) and electronics (actuators, control unit and battery pack). In this paper, the authors propose a scaling procedure to automatically adapt the hand exoskeleton to different patients. Starting from the acquisition of the hand trajectories of the patients, obtained through a 3D Motion Capture (MoCap) system, a suitable optimization algorithm is used to determine the dimensions of the mechanism parts that allow to replicate at best the acquired trajectories. The optimization process showed satisfying results, permitting to obtain devices which tailor the hand of generic patients and able to reproduce the natural kinematics of the fingers.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1109/RTSI.2016.7740600
2016 IEEE 2nd International Forum on Research and Technologies for Society and Industry Leveraging a better tomorrow (RTSI)
Keywords
Field
DocType
automatic scaling procedure,wearable hand exoskeleton,portable hand exoskeleton,injured hand skills,neuromuscular diseases,aging diseases,modern robotics,hand opening disabilities,activities-of-daily living,rehabilitative sessions,dexterity restoration,single-phalanx architecture,electronics,actuators,control unit,battery pack,hand trajectories diseases,3D motion capture system,MoCap system,optimization algorithm,natural kinematics
Motion capture,Kinematics,Simulation,Wearable computer,Human–computer interaction,Artificial intelligence,Control unit,Exoskeleton,Engineering,Battery pack,Mechatronics,Robotics
Conference
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
978-1-5090-1132-2
0
0.34
References 
Authors
0
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Matteo Bianchi127647.56
Francesco Fanelli211.05
Leandro Giordani300.34
Alessandro Ridolfi4307.88
Federica Vannetti5314.13
Benedetto Allotta624453.74