Wearable hand rehabilitation robot capable of hand function assistance in stroke survivors

Abstract

In this paper, we propose DULEX-II, a wearable hand robot capable of assisting stroke survivors with hand function rehabilitation. DULEX-II is a robotic orthosis that has three degrees of freedom for assisting motions of the wrist, and all fingers, excluding the thumb. Each exoskeleton mechanism enclosing the wrist and fingers is designed to fit the user's motion trajectory. DULEX-II is actuated by three linear actuators: a double-acting pneumatic cylinder for the wrist and two electric linear motors for the fingers. All mechanisms were analyzed by kinematics, and then a control system for hand rehabilitation was designed. Using the experimental results obtained for self-motion control using a data-glove, we demonstrated that DULEX-II is capable of performing hand rehabilitation exercises similar to those performed in mirror therapy.