Bilateral Hand Rehabilitation Using a Soft Robotic Glove with Kinematics and EMG-Based Control
摘要
Soft hand exoskeletons are increasingly recognized as safer, lighter, and more affordable options for hand rehabilitation in hemiplegia patients compared to traditional rigid exoskeletons. This chapter introduces a soft robotic glove driven by a kinematics-EMG-based method, capable of replicating both the position and grasping force of the fingers in the unimpaired hand to the impaired hand of hemiplegic patients. A ten-degree-of-freedom bi-directional soft robotic glove was designed and characterized to enable patients to perform complex tasks and fine motor motions. An EMG-based method for estimating finger forces was developed and evaluated. Trajectory-following and grasping experiments demonstrated the system’s effectiveness, with the robotic glove replicating the motion of the unimpaired hand with minimal delay (0.75 ± 0.34 s) and achieving a 68.8% success rate across various objects, with 96% success in grasping a regular bottle. These findings underscore the feasibility and potential of the system for bilateral hand rehabilitation in hemiplegic patients.