Maldonado-Mejía, Juan C;
Múnera, Marcela;
Diaz, Camilo AR;
Wurdemann, Helge;
Moazen, Mehran;
Pontes, Maria José;
Vieira Segatto, Marcelo Eduardo;
... Cifuentes, Carlos A; + view all
(2023)
A fabric-based soft hand exoskeleton for assistance: the ExHand Exoskeleton.
Frontiers in Neurorobotics
, 17
, Article 1091827. 10.3389/fnbot.2023.1091827.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The rise of soft robotics has driven the development of devices for assistance in activities of daily living (ADL). Likewise, different types of actuation have been developed for safer human interaction. Recently, textile-based pneumatic actuation has been introduced in hand exoskeletons for features such as biocompatibility, flexibility, and durability. These devices have demonstrated their potential use in assisting ADLs, such as the degrees of freedom assisted, the force exerted, or the inclusion of sensors. However, performing ADLs requires the use of different objects, so exoskeletons must provide the ability to grasp and maintain stable contact with a variety of objects to lead to the successful development of ADLs. Although textile-based exoskeletons have demonstrated significant advancements, the ability of these devices to maintain stable contact with a variety of objects commonly used in ADLs has yet to be fully evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This paper presents the development and experimental validation in healthy users of a fabric-based soft hand exoskeleton through a grasping performance test using The Anthropomorphic Hand Assessment Protocol (AHAP), which assesses eight types of grasping with 24 objects of different shapes, sizes, textures, weights, and rigidities, and two standardized tests used in the rehabilitation processes of post- stroke patients. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A total of 10 healthy users (45.50 ± 14.93 years old) participated in this study. The results indicate that the device can assist in developing ADLs by evaluating the eight types of grasps of the AHAP. A score of 95.76 ± 2.90% out of 100% was obtained for the Maintaining Score, indicating that the ExHand Exoskeleton can maintain stable contact with various daily living objects. In addition, the results of the user satisfaction questionnaire indicated a positive mean score of 4.27 ± 0.34 on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A fabric-based soft hand exoskeleton for assistance: the ExHand Exoskeleton |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fnbot.2023.1091827 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2023.1091827 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2023 Maldonado-Mejía, Múnera, Diaz, Wurdemann, Moazen, Pontes, Vieira Segatto, Monteiro and Cifuentes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | activities of daily living, assistive technologies, hand exoskeleton, soft actuators, soft robotics |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10172915 |
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