A bionic soft robotic glove mimicking finger actions based on sEMG recognition

Abstract

Compared with rigid robots, soft robotics is more suitable to develop anthropomorphic digits that mimics the biological structures and dexterous motions of human finger. This study proposed a surface electromyogram (sEMG) sensors-based soft robotic glove system which was able to recognize the finger activities and execute the same operation via the bionic glove. Finger activities can be recognized by using electrodes sensors to monitor the electric potential variations on specific surface of the forearm muscle regions. A hybrid robotic digit was designed that utilizes pneumatic bellow actuators to satisfy the anatomical range of the finger motion in order to mimic finger action according to sEMG information. The moving trajectory of digit tip and the range motion of each joint of the robotic digit were measured in experiments under the pressure from 0kPa to 70kPa. The bionic soft robotic glove successfully demonstrated the finger action recognition and robotic digits controlling for a variety of manipulation tasks. The feasible results provided a novel technique for controlling the soft robotic glove through sEMG signals holistically and practically, and also give inspiration and guidance for multiple fingers remote operational applications.

Modeling multi-contact point physical interaction between the anthropomorphic finger and soft robotic exo-digit for wearable rehabilitation robotics applications

“…Tang et al developed an online learning model which takes into account the interaction of two soft-segment robotic digits and a human finger model for an adaptive control strategy ( Tang et al, 2021 ). A simple force analysis and interaction model was developed for a cybernetic finger for hand paralysis ( Yoshikawa et al, 2019) , a bionic soft robotic glove ( Zhao et al, 2021 ) with a hybrid soft-and-rigid architecture, and a torque characterization for enfolded textile-based soft actuators ( Nassour and Hamker, 2019) . Extensive work has been carried out on a hybrid soft-and-rigid actuator-based hand rehabilitation robot (UTARI REHAB Glove), where the soft robotic finger was made of an elastomer ( Haghshenas-Jaryani et al, 2016a ; Haghshenas-Jaryani et al, 2017b ; Haghshenas-Jaryani et al, 2020 ), including pHRI kinematic and modeling and characterization ( Haghshenas-Jaryani et al, 2017a ; Haghshenas-Jaryani and Wijesundara, 2018 ).…”