Design and modeling of a wearable articulated manipulator to assist the elderly grasp

Abstract

Purpose –With the weakening of the body of the elderly, hand strength has decreased significantly, unable to adapt to daily life, some elderly people with Parkinson’s syndrome or some hand tremors caused by other diseases, and even will have trouble drinking water and eating daily small things. In order to solve the problem of grasping objects in daily life of the elderly with weak hand strength and some diseases, a wearable articulated manipulator that assists the elderly to grasp is designed. Design/methodology/approach –The design is divided into four parts: wrist part, back part of the hand, finger part and drive part. For the elderly with trembling hands, the degree of freedom is reduced at the joint point of finger movement, and the use of underdrive mechanism can make the knuckles of the mechanical finger fit the shape of the object by themselves, and when taking irregular objects, the fingers will adaptively fit the outline of the object, ensuring the stability and safety of the overall grasping to the greatest extent. Findings –Based on this design idea, a wearable articulated manipulator was designed, and mechanical analysis and kinematics analysis were carried out by designing and modeling the claw mechanism, determining the design size, and making the manipulator claw. Through the manipulator-assisted grasping and opening and lifting test tests, the practicality and safety of the designed assisted elderly grasping items are verified. Originality/value –The morphological design of each finger is designed to fit the normal human hand, and each "joint" can be fine-tuned to adapt to the finger length of different elderly people. Each finger is biomimetically designed to perfectly conform to the human skeletal structure, while the interior is covered with flexible materials to make it more comfortable for the elderly to wear. And it has stable grasping ability and adjustment ability, reflecting good adaptability and suitable for the elderly.