[WEB PAGE] Robotic Hand Orthosis for Therapy and Assistance in Activities of Daily Living

tenoexo is a compact and lightweight hand exoskeleton which has been developed in collaboration with Jumpei Arata at Kyushu University. The EMG-controlled device assists patients with moderate to severe hand motor impairment during grasping tasks in rehabilitation training and during activities of daily living. Its soft mechanism allows for grasping of a variety of objects. Thanks to 3D-rapid prototyping, it can be tailored to the each individual user.

Stroke, spinal cord injury and muscular atrophy are just few examples of diseases leading to persistent hand impairment. No matter the cause, the inability to use the affected hand in activities of daily living will affect independence and quality of life. Wearable robotic devices can support the use of the impaired limb in activities of daily living, and provide at-home rehabilitation training. In collaboration with the groups of Prof. Jumpei Arata at Kyushu University, Japan, and Gregory Fischer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA, we have developed a highly compact and lightweight hand exoskeleton.

Our exoskeleton aims to assist patients in grasping tasks during physiotherapy and in activities of daily living such as eating or grooming. Various grasp types, intuitive control based on electromyography (Ryser et al., 2017) and numerous usability features should increase the independence of the user. The current prototype, RELab tenoexo, is fully wearable and consists of a lightweight hand module (148 g) as well as an actuation box including motors, power source and controllers (720 g), all located in a compact backpack. tenoexo’s remote actuation system (Hofmann et al., 2018) and its compliant 3-layered sliding spring mechanism (Arata et al., 2013) ensure safe operation and inherent adaptation to the shape of the grasped objects. The palmar side of the hand is minimally covered to allow for natural somatosensory feedback during object manipulation. The actuated thumb module allows for both opposition and lateral grasps. tenoexo is fabricated to a large extent by 3D-printing technology. With an underlying automatic tailoring algorithm it can be adapted to the individual user within a few minutes. The maximal fingertip force of 4.5 N per finger allows for grasping and lifting of most everyday objects, up to 0.5-liter water bottles.

Our current focus is on the evaluation of tenoexo with several individuals suffering from stroke or spinal cord injury and exploring its potential as both assistive and therapeutic device in these populations. In related projects, we are investigating intention detection through functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to allow for cortically-triggered assistance. Our vision is to realize a thought-controlled robotic hand exoskeleton for upper limb therapy and assistance in the clinic and at home.

Pictures (source: ETH Zurich / Stefan Schneller)

ReHand

Videos

RELab tenoexo: functions and grasp types

RELab tenoexo: setup, donning and doffing

RELab tenoexo: gesture classification training routine

A hand exoskeleton robot for rehabilitation using a three-layered sliding spring mechanism

Funding

• Swiss National Science Foundation through the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics
• Strategic Japanese-Swiss Cooperative Research Program on “Medicine for an Aging Society”
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Publications

Hofmann, U.A., Bützer, T., Lambercy, O., and Gassert, R. (2018). Design and Evaluation of a Bowden-Cable-Based Remote Actuation System for Wearable Robotics. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 3(3):2101–2108.

Ryser, F., Bützer, T., Held, J.P., Lambercy, O., and Gassert, R. (2017). Fully embedded myoelectric control for a wearable robotic hand orthosis. IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR).

Nycz, Ch., Bützer, T., Lambercy, O., Arata, J., Fischer, G.S., and Gassert, R. (2016). Design and Characterization of a Lightweight and Fully Portable Remote Actuation System for Use with a Hand Exoskeleton. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 1(2):976–983.

Lambercy, O., Schröder, D., Zwicker, S. and Gassert, R. (2013). Design of a thumb exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation (PDF, 1.1 MB). Proc. International Convention on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (i-CREATe).

Arata, J., Ohmoto, K., Gassert, R., Lambercy, O., Fujimoto, H. and Wada, I. (2013). A new hand exoskeleton device for rehabilitation using a three-layered sliding spring mechanism. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3902–3907.

 

via Robotic Hand Orthosis for Therapy and Assistance in Activities of Daily Living – Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory | ETH Zurich