Project: Robotic Glove for the Rehabilitation of Hand Impaired Patients
The project is based on the concept of a robotic glove that can add extra strength to the grip for persons with reduced hand function. The HandinMind glove can be worn as any other glove together with a power unit that is placed on the arm or on the back of the user and the embedded software adjusts the amount of extra force to the grip intention of the user. The glove will have a slim design and the same look and feel as a regular glove, as its weight is aimed to reCO under 70 gram and the total weight (including power unit) is aimed to reCO under 400 g._x000D__x000D_The consortium is targeting the healthcare and rehabilitation market, in particular, the treatment of stroke patients with disabilities. Hemiparesis affects roughly 80 percent of stroke survivors, causing weakness or the inability to move one side of the body. Those impacted may have trouble performing everyday activities such as eating, dressing, using the bathroom and grabbing objects._x000D__x000D_The project will seek to develop a robotic glove specifically adapted for stroke patient hand rehabilitation (“stroke glove”): _x000D_• The “stroke glove” is able to provide force support for hand opening as this is the most prevailing deficit that stroke patients have with respect to hand function (increased muscle tone in flexor muscles and weak extensor muscles aka “spastic hand”)_x000D_• The hand opening support of the “stroke glove” is triggered by an “intention detection” logic that activates the support if and only if the patient initiates the movement by a natural and intuitive movement intention (possibly using electromyography detection to capture very early movement preparation)_x000D_• The “stroke glove” is also able to provide extra force for enhanced grip in order to address grasping weakness (paresis of flexor muscles)._x000D_• The “stroke glove” can be connected to an external display (mobile device or PC) that allows the patient to perform specific, computer-game-like therapy exercises._x000D__x000D_In addition, the consortium will explore the development of a “master” glove for the healthy hand where the "master glove" can send wirelessly information about bimanual activities to the “stroke glove” in order to trigger the servo-motor actuators of the “stroke glove", allowing innovative “mirror” therapy hand exercises._x000D__x000D_All hand movements can be recorded wirelessly by an external display, allowing a user-friendly monitoring of the rehabilitation progress. The different modules enable an individualized approach as it is possible to activate the modules (support of hand opening only, enhanced grip only, or both at the same time) for each patient depending on individual needs. Data can also be sent to the clinicians to monitor patient progress. The external display can activate a number of hand exercises, tied to activities of daily living (ADL) in order to maximize the long-term benefits of the therapy. _x000D__x000D_The project will also implement prototype software including:_x000D_• Adaptive training software consisting of rehabilitation exercises matching the user’s daily activities. This means the exercise program will be constructed after analysing environmental data of the user (for ex: a young active adult would get a different program from a elderly person, based on the type of daily activities he is performing)_x000D_• Monitoring and analysis software consisting of a patient module (to display in a user-friendly way the rehabilitation progress over time) and a clinician module (to send remotely data captured from the glove for patient follow-up)._x000D_• The force-support settings of the “stroke glove” will be adapted based on the performance of the patient in the rehabilitation exercises to keep the patient as active as possible and reCO constantly challenged during his everyday life._x000D__x000D_In summary, The HandinMind project aims to develop a glove device that can be used both in early rehabilitation phase (where the patient may suffer from spastic hand in addition to grip weakness) and in the subsequent recovery phase, where improvements coming from task-specific activities can carry through to the patients' daily lives._x000D__x000D_The consortium assembled for this project includes 3 research performing SMEs in Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands: _x000D__x000D_• Bioservo is an innovator in robotic glove hardware and firmware and will be developing the intention detection technology and the hand opening/closing technology. _x000D__x000D_• Hocoma is a leader in robotic rehabilitation therapy for neurological movement disorders, and will focus on the development of training software and the integration of Bioservo's hardware and firmware in a working prototype to be used in clinical testing. _x000D__x000D_• Roessingh Research and Development (RRD) is the largest Dutch scientific research centre for rehabilitation technology and will use its facilities in the Netherlands to evaluate the effects of the glove prototype on supporting activities of daily life (orthotic effect) and on stroke recovery (therapeutic effect). _x000D_
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Acronym
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HandinMind
(Reference Number: 8227)
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Duration
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01/10/2013 - 30/11/2016
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Project Topic
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The project will develop a rehabilitation robotic glove system for stroke patients combined with a software module managing rehabilitation exercises related to activities of daily life (ADL) and monitoring the patient progress.
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Network
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Eurostars
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Call
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Eurostars Cut-Off 10
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Project partner
