Design of wearable hand rehabilitation glove with soft hoop-reinforced pneumatic actuator

Abstract

Traditional hand rehabilitation gloves usually use electrical motor as actuator with disadvantages of heaviness, bulkiness and less compliance. Recently, the soft pneumatic actuator is demonstrated to be more suitable for hand rehabilitation compared to motor because of its inherent compliance, flexibility and safety. In order to design a wearable glove in request of hand rehabilitation, a soft hoop-reinforced pneumatic actuator is presented. By analyzing the influence of its section shape and geometrical parameters on bending performance, the preferred structure of actuator is achieved based on finite element method. An improved hoop-reinforced actuator is designed after the fabrication and initial measurement, and its mathematical model is built in order to quickly obtain the bending angle response when pressurized. A series of experiment about bending performance are implemented to validate the agreement between the finite element, mathematical and experimental results, and the performance improvement of hoop-reinforced actuator. In addition, the designed hand rehabilitation glove is tested by measuring its output force and actual wearing experience. The output force can reach 2.5 to 3 N when the pressure is 200 kPa. The research results indicate that the designed glove with hoop-reinforced actuator can meet the requirements of hand rehabilitation and has prospective application in hand rehabilitation.

Keywords

pneumatic / soft actuator / hoop-reinforced / hand rehabilitation

References

[1] ReinkensmeyerD, EmkenJ, CramerS. Robotics, motor learning, and neurologic recovery [J]. Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 2004, 6: 497-525

[2] BorboniA, VillafaneJ H, MullèC, ValdesK, FagliaR, TaveggiaG, NegriniS. Robot-assisted rehabilitation of hand paralysis after stroke reduces wrist edema and pain: A prospective clinical trial [J]. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 2017, 40(1): 21-30

[3] WorsnoppT T, PeshkinM A, ColgateJ E, KamperD G. An actuated finger exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation following stroke [C]. IEEE 10th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2007, Netherlands, Noordwijk: 896901

[4] LambercyO, DovatL, GassertR, BurdetE, TeoC L, MilnerT. A haptic knob for rehabilitation of hand function [J]. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2007, 15(3): 356-366

[5] RienerR, FreyM, ProllT. Phantom-based multimodal interactions for medical education and training: The Munich knee joint simulator [J]. IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine, 2004, 8(2): 208-216

[6] SuzukiR, EgawaM, YamadaY, NakamuraT. Development of a 1-DOF wearable force feedback device with soft actuators and comparative evaluation of the actual objects and virtual objects in the AR space [C]. 14th International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics & Vision. Phuket, Thailand, 201616

[7] LiJPortable haptic feedback for training and rehabilitation [D], 2009, Stanford University, Stanford

[8] AdamovichS V, FlueG G, MathaiA, QiuQ Y, LewisJ, MeriansA S. Design of a complex virtual reality simulation to train finger motion for persons with hemiparesis: a proof of concept study [J]. Journal of Neuro Engineering and Rehabilitation, 2009, 17: 6-28

[9] ChiriA V, VitielloN, GiovacchiniN, RoccellaF, VecchiF, CarrozzaM C. Mechatronic design and characterization of the index finger module of a hand exoskeleton for post-stroke rehabilitation [J]. IEEE/ASME Trans Mechatronics, 2012, 17(5): 884-894

[10] BouzitM, BurdeaG. The rutgers master II-new design force-feedback glove [J]. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2002, 7(2): 256-263

[11] JonesC L, WangF, MorrisonR, SarkarN, KamperD G. Design and development of the cable actuated finger exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation following stroke [J]. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2014, 19(1): 131-140

[12] LiJ T, WangS, WangJ, ZhengR Y, ZhangY R, ChenZ Y. Development of a hand exoskeleton system for index finger rehabilitation [J]. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2012, 25(2): 223-233

[13] ZhangH Y, WangY Q, WangY M, FuhJ Y H, KumarA S. Design and analysis of soft grippers for hand rehabilitation [C]. Proceedings of the ASME 2017 12th International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference. Los Angeles, CA, 2017110

[14] YapH K, GohJ C H, YeowR C H. Design and Characterization of soft actuator for hand rehabilitation application [C]. 6th European Conference of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering. Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2014367370

[15] ZhangJ, WangH, TangJ, GuoH. Modeling and design of a soft pneumatic finger for hand rehabilitation [C]. Proceeding of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation. Lijiang, China, 201524602465

[16] PolygerinosP, GallowayK C, SavageE, HermanM. Soft robotic glove for hand rehabilitation and task specific training [C]. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Seattle, Washington, 201519131919

[17] AgarwalG, BesuchetN, AudergonB, PaikJ. Stretchable materials for robust soft actuators towards assistive wearable devices [J]. Scientific Reports, 2016, 6(1): 1-8

[18] AinlaA, VermaM S, YangD, WhitesidesG M. Soft, rotating pneumatic actuator [J]. Soft Robotics, 2017, 4(3): 297-304

[19] TonduB, LopezP. Modeling and control of McKibben artificial muscle robot actuators [J]. IEEE Control Systems, 2000, 20(2): 15-38

[20] NoritsuguT, KubotaM, YoshimatsuS. Development of pneumatic rotary soft actuator made of silicone rubber [J]. Journal of Robotics & Mechatronics, 2001, 13(1): 17-22

[21] PolygerinosP, WangZ, GallowayK C, WoodR J, WalshC J. Soft robotic glove for combined assistance and at-home rehabilitation [J]. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2015, 73: 135-143

[22] POLYGERINOS P, WANG Z, OVERVELDE J T B, GALLOWAY K C, WOOD R S, BERTOLDI K, WALSH C J. Modeling of soft fiber-reinforced bending actuators [J]. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 201, 31(3): 778789.

[23] WangZ, PolygerinosP, OverveldeJ T B, GallowayK C, BertoldiK, WalshC J. Interaction forces of soft fiber reinforced bending actuators [J]. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2017, 22(2): 717-727

[24] PolygerinosP, LyneS, WangZ, NicoliniF, MosadeghB. Towards a soft pneumatic glove for hand rehabilitation [C]. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Tokyo, Japan, 201315121517

[25] UdupaG, SreedharanP, DineshP S, KimD. Asymmetric bellow flexible pneumatic actuator for miniature robotic soft gripper [J]. Journal of Robotics, 2014, 2014: 1-11

[26] RehmanT, FaudziA, DewiD, SuzumoriK, RazifM. Design and analysis of bending motion in single and dual chamber bellows structured soft actuators [J]. Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering), 2016, 78: 17-23

[27] ShapiroaY, WolfaA, GaborbK. Bi-bellows: Pneumatic bending actuator [J]. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2011, 11: 1-11

[28] WangZ K, ShinichiH. Soft gripper dynamics using a line-segment model with an optimization-based parameter identification method [J]. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2017, 2(2): 624-631

[29] HaoY F, WangT M, RenZ Y, GongZ Y, WangH, YangX B, GuanS Y, WenL. Modeling and experiments of a soft robotic gripper in amphibious environments [J]. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2017, 14(3): 1-12