A Composite Fabric-Based Soft Rehabilitation Glove With Soft Joint for Dementia in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

A kind of wearable exoskeleton soft rehabilitation glove is proposed for the dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with loss of hand function, limited range of motion, and insufficient finger muscle strength to carry out rehabilitation exercise training in a passive or auxiliary way. A novel soft joint structure based on composite fabric material is introduced for the design of the soft glove with bionic method, and experiments are conducted to verify the effeteness of the proposed soft rehabilitation glove. The test results showed that when the fluid pressure was 0.42 MPa, the joint angle of MCP, PIP and DIP could be up to 81 • , 98 • , 72 • , and produce output torque of 1.18Nm, 1.44Nm and 1.82Nm respectively, which meets the requirements of the hand rehabilitation. A dynamic rehabilitation-training test of the rehabilitation glove was also carried out, and the results showed that the movement frequency of soft fingers could reach 30 times/min, which is sufficient for repetitive flexion/extension exercise. In order to verify the grasping characteristics of the soft glove for irregular objects, experiments were carried out. The experimental results showed that the bionic soft glove was dexterous in grasping, which conforms to the universal grasping characteristics of human hands, has the function of assisting daily life (ADL), and meets the requirements of rehabilitation.

The Tension-Twist Coupling Mechanism in Flexible Composites: A Systematic Study Based on Tailored Laminate Structures Using a Novel Test Device

“…The concept of these soft matter applications can be found in the field of aerospace or automotive industries as aeroelastic wings [11,12] with the ability to serve multiple functions for optimized aerodynamic performances. Another aspect for the usage of morphing structures are in soft robotic applications such as exoskeletons [13] or artificial fingers [14], where sufficient strength combined with significant large deformations have to be ensured. The crucial challenge is to apply the right material, fiber-matrix material combination and resulting functionality in order to find the best solution.…”

Remote Actuation Systems for Fully Wearable Assistive Devices: Requirements, Selection, and Optimization for Out-of-the-Lab Application of a Hand Exoskeleton

“…Hydraulic power transmissions have been used frequently in RAS (Takemura et al, 2005 ; Kargov et al, 2008 ; Pylatiuk et al, 2009 ; Kaminaga et al, 2010 ; Ohnishi et al, 2013 ; Bechet and Ohnishi, 2014 ; Lee, 2014 ; Smit et al, 2014b ; Polygerinos et al, 2015 ; Ouyang et al, 2016 ; Bos et al, 2020 ; Chen et al, 2020 ). In contrast to pneumatic RAS, which are usually limited to pressure control, pressure and flow can be generated and controlled at the input of hydraulic RAS.…”

“…Hydraulic cylinders are a different common approach to generate pressure and flow. Linear or rotary electromagnetic motors (Ohnishi et al, 2013 ; Bechet and Ohnishi, 2014 ; Chen et al, 2020 ) or body power (Smit et al, 2014b ; Bos et al, 2020 ) have been used to drive the piston of conventional hydraulic cylinders.…”

“…The most common types of hydraulic outputs are single- and double-acting cylinders combined with hydraulic cylinders driven by electric motors (Ohnishi et al, 2013 ; Bechet and Ohnishi, 2014 ; Bos et al, 2020 ) or pumps (Lee, 2014 ; Ouyang et al, 2016 ) in the actuation unit. Bellow actuators (Kargov et al, 2008 ; Pylatiuk et al, 2009 ), implementations of hydraulic artificial muscles (HAM) (Takemura et al, 2005 ), and soft hydraulic actuators (SHA) (Polygerinos et al, 2015 ; Chen et al, 2020 ) have been integrated into hydraulic-based RAS. The working principles of the different outputs cylinders, bellows, HAM, and SHA are similar to their equivalent pneumatic version.…”

Dementia and Physical Therapy

“…While dementia caused by traumatic brain injury is usually static, dementia caused by neurodegenerative diseases is usually progressive and can eventually be fatal [41]. Although motor rehabilitation impact on people with PD is widely referenced in the scientific literature, the physical effects that can be achieved with physiotherapy in people with PD and dementia are hardly documented.…”