[Abstract] Utilizing Computational Modeling to Aid the Development of a Wearable Soft Robot for Finger Rehabilitation

Abstract:

As more people suffering from mobility impairments, there are growing needs for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation robots have been proven to be effective in assisting patients in their rehabilitation process. However, many existing rehabilitation robots are costly so the accessibility to the patients in need is limited. Our team has been working on a proof-of-concept soft robot design that could be used for finger rehabilitation. Our eventual goal for this soft robot concept is to lower the barrier to access rehabilitation. Hence, our soft robot is designed unlike most other existing soft robots, which are actuated by external components. Our soft robot is completely untethered and actuated by heat. Using a phase changing material (PCM) sealed in elastomer compartments as the working fluid for our soft robot, when heat is applied, the PCM begins to change phase and the pressure inside the sealed elastomer compartments increases to bend our soft robot. Because the bending of our soft robot is closely related to the pressure increase inside of the elastomer compartments, we use computational modeling to investigate that correlation. In this paper, we present the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and FEA (Finite Element Analysis) simulation models we studied. CFD simulation helps us investigate how the pressure to increase inside of the elastomer compartments when PCM changes phase and FEA modeling further identifies the bending angles for a given pressure inside of the elastomer compartments. These modeling results would aid the development of our soft robot prototypes in the future.

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[Abstract] Low-cost haptic glove for grasp precision improvement in Virtual Reality-Based Post-Stroke Hand Rehabilitation

Abstract:Stroke in Algeria is one of the most important causes of severe physical disability. Upper limb paralysis is also most common in stroke patients, which severely affecting their daily life. Therefore, it is important to help stroke patients to improve the quality of their life. In this article, we have proposed a novel system based on virtual reality for fine motor rehabilitation. Because the sense of touch is essential to the patient’s daily activities, we have integrated haptic feedback into our system (vibrating glove), this is to help the patient to perform rehabilitation exercises. The proposed vibrating glove is equipped with five small and flat vibrating motor discs (one on each finger); these motors are controlled by ESP8266 board. This system has been tested on two patients with stroke. The preliminary results show that the system can help patients recover fine motor skills.

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