NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke Rehabilitation
The rehabilitation process after the onset of a stroke primarily deals with assisting in regaining mobility, communication skills, swallowing function, and activities of daily living (ADLs). This entirely depends on the specific regions of the brain that have been affected by the stroke. Patients ca...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Robotics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/12/6/169 |
| _version_ | 1797379419036188672 |
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| author | Ebenezer Raj Selvaraj Mercyshalinie Akash Ghadge Nneka Ifejika Yonas Tadesse |
| author_facet | Ebenezer Raj Selvaraj Mercyshalinie Akash Ghadge Nneka Ifejika Yonas Tadesse |
| author_sort | Ebenezer Raj Selvaraj Mercyshalinie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The rehabilitation process after the onset of a stroke primarily deals with assisting in regaining mobility, communication skills, swallowing function, and activities of daily living (ADLs). This entirely depends on the specific regions of the brain that have been affected by the stroke. Patients can learn how to utilize adaptive equipment, regain movement, and reduce muscle spasticity through certain repetitive exercises and therapeutic interventions. These exercises can be performed by wearing soft robotic gloves on the impaired extremity. For post-stroke rehabilitation, we have designed and characterized an interactive hand orthosis with tendon-driven finger actuation mechanisms actuated by servo motors, which consists of a fabric glove and force-sensitive resistors (FSRs) at the tip. The robotic device moves the user’s hand when operated by mobile phone to replicate normal gripping behavior. In this paper, the characterization of finger movements in response to step input commands from a mobile app was carried out for each finger at the proximal interphalangeal (PIP), distal interphalangeal (DIP), and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints. In general, servo motor-based hand orthoses are energy-efficient; however, they generate noise during actuation. Here, we quantified the noise generated by servo motor actuation for each finger as well as when a group of fingers is simultaneously activated. To test ADL ability, we evaluated the device’s effectiveness in holding different objects from the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) kit. Our device, novel hand orthosis actuated by servo motors (NOHAS), was tested on ten healthy human subjects and showed an average of 90% success rate in grasping tasks. Our orthotic hand shows promise for aiding post-stroke subjects recover because of its simplicity of use, lightweight construction, and carefully designed components. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:23:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4c9912a80ea1486abb42053cbe783373 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2218-6581 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:23:58Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Robotics |
| spelling | doaj.art-4c9912a80ea1486abb42053cbe7833732023-12-22T14:39:39ZengMDPI AGRobotics2218-65812023-12-0112616910.3390/robotics12060169NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke RehabilitationEbenezer Raj Selvaraj Mercyshalinie0Akash Ghadge1Nneka Ifejika2Yonas Tadesse3The Humanoid Biorobotics and Smart Systems Lab (HBS Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080, USAThe Humanoid Biorobotics and Smart Systems Lab (HBS Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080, USADepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Neurology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390, USAThe Humanoid Biorobotics and Smart Systems Lab (HBS Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080, USAThe rehabilitation process after the onset of a stroke primarily deals with assisting in regaining mobility, communication skills, swallowing function, and activities of daily living (ADLs). This entirely depends on the specific regions of the brain that have been affected by the stroke. Patients can learn how to utilize adaptive equipment, regain movement, and reduce muscle spasticity through certain repetitive exercises and therapeutic interventions. These exercises can be performed by wearing soft robotic gloves on the impaired extremity. For post-stroke rehabilitation, we have designed and characterized an interactive hand orthosis with tendon-driven finger actuation mechanisms actuated by servo motors, which consists of a fabric glove and force-sensitive resistors (FSRs) at the tip. The robotic device moves the user’s hand when operated by mobile phone to replicate normal gripping behavior. In this paper, the characterization of finger movements in response to step input commands from a mobile app was carried out for each finger at the proximal interphalangeal (PIP), distal interphalangeal (DIP), and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints. In general, servo motor-based hand orthoses are energy-efficient; however, they generate noise during actuation. Here, we quantified the noise generated by servo motor actuation for each finger as well as when a group of fingers is simultaneously activated. To test ADL ability, we evaluated the device’s effectiveness in holding different objects from the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) kit. Our device, novel hand orthosis actuated by servo motors (NOHAS), was tested on ten healthy human subjects and showed an average of 90% success rate in grasping tasks. Our orthotic hand shows promise for aiding post-stroke subjects recover because of its simplicity of use, lightweight construction, and carefully designed components.https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/12/6/169powered hand orthosisADLsgraspingstroke rehabilitationcharacterizationdesign of hand orthosis |
| spellingShingle | Ebenezer Raj Selvaraj Mercyshalinie Akash Ghadge Nneka Ifejika Yonas Tadesse NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke Rehabilitation Robotics powered hand orthosis ADLs grasping stroke rehabilitation characterization design of hand orthosis |
| title | NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke Rehabilitation |
| title_full | NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke Rehabilitation |
| title_fullStr | NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke Rehabilitation |
| title_full_unstemmed | NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke Rehabilitation |
| title_short | NOHAS: A Novel Orthotic Hand Actuated by Servo Motors and Mobile App for Stroke Rehabilitation |
| title_sort | nohas a novel orthotic hand actuated by servo motors and mobile app for stroke rehabilitation |
| topic | powered hand orthosis ADLs grasping stroke rehabilitation characterization design of hand orthosis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/12/6/169 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ebenezerrajselvarajmercyshalinie nohasanovelorthotichandactuatedbyservomotorsandmobileappforstrokerehabilitation AT akashghadge nohasanovelorthotichandactuatedbyservomotorsandmobileappforstrokerehabilitation AT nnekaifejika nohasanovelorthotichandactuatedbyservomotorsandmobileappforstrokerehabilitation AT yonastadesse nohasanovelorthotichandactuatedbyservomotorsandmobileappforstrokerehabilitation |