Soft robotics for hand rehabilitation

This chapter introduces a soft and wearable robotic glove for hand rehabilitation. It was designed for individuals with a hemiparetic hand. The glove is more lightweight and compact compared with rigid hand exoskeleton robots. The design of the soft robotic glove included a cable drive system which drives the fingers in flexion. Three-dimensional printed cable guides were fixed between interphalangeal joints which determined the paths of the cables. The cables were connected to the fingers and actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs). It was shown that the robotic glove can be used in the execution of hand rehabilitation training. The weight of the glove part is about 120 g and the maximum fingertip force is about 12 N. The myoelectric control strategy was used to control the robotic glove. User intent can be detected by measuring the surface electromyography (sEMG) of the muscles on the forearm. With the help of the device, subjects can grasp objects of various shapes. The soft and wearable robotic glove could be used in the stroke rehabilitation.