Abstract
Recently, robotics has increasingly become a companion for the human being and assisting physically impaired people with robotic devices is showing encouraging signs regarding the application of this largely investigated technology to the clinical field. As of today, however, exoskeleton design can still be considered a hurdle task and, even in modern robotics, aiding those patients who have lost or injured their limbs is surely one of the most challenging goal. In this framework, the research activity carried out by the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Florence concentrated on the development of portable, wearable and highly customizable hand exoskeletons to aid patients suffering from hand disabilities, and on the definition of patient-centered design strategies to tailor-made devices specifically developed on the different users’ needs. Three hand exoskeletons versions will be presented in this paper proving the major taken steps in mechanical designing and controlling a compact and lightweight solution. The performance of the resulting systems has been tested in a real-use scenario. The obtained results have been satisfying, indicating that the derived solutions may constitute a valid alternative to existing hand exoskeletons so far studied in the rehabilitation and assistance fields.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, wearable robotics have been adopted in more and more sectors and, lately, the so called “assistive technology”, that is the set of all the products that helps people to live as healthy, productive, independent, and dignified as possible, whatever their condition, has started to be more and more widely used by the health care system [1,2,3,4]
This work collects the results of the research activity on wearable robotics carried out at the Mechatronics and Dynamic Modeling Laboratory of the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Florence during the years 2015–2018
The activity focused on the study of design strategies for hand exoskeletons, starting from the analysis of state-of-the-art solutions and leading to the development of new robotic devices
Summary
Over the past few decades, wearable robotics have been adopted in more and more sectors and, lately, the so called “assistive technology”, that is the set of all the products that helps people to live as healthy, productive, independent, and dignified as possible, whatever their condition, has started to be more and more widely used by the health care system [1,2,3,4]. Throughout the paper, three prototypes will be described to define the step by step design process that has lead to a novel single phalanx, rigid, single-DOF and cable-driven mechanism especially developed within this research activity In this manifold context, the use of optimization-based methods for the mechanical design, the exploitation of additive manufacturing technologies for the fabrication and considered choices of materials and electronics have proved to be effective tools for the development of well-performing prototypes of hand exoskeletons even in a low-cost perspective. A patient affected by Spinal Muscolar Atrophy (SMA) was the first user of the device, which was developed for his needs and basing on his requirements This first version of the hand exoskeleton prototype represented a first embodiment of the novel 1-DOF kinematic mechanism architecture which has been later developed during the following years. At the time of writing, two projects are ongoing: HOLD, funded by the University of Florence and BMIFOCUS, funded by the Tuscany region
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
