New Layouts of Fiber Reinforcements to Enable Full Finger Motion Assist with Pneumatic Multi-Chamber Elastomer Actuators

Fiber-reinforced fluid-driven elastomer actuators have enabled the production of simple, low-cost and safe hand rehabilitation devices. However, so far, the actuators support only finger flexion-extension, and little has been reported on abduction-adduction, which is essential for manipulation tasks and grasping larger objects. The technical design difficulty of realizing abduction-adduction lies in the suppression of interference effects between the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint’s two orthogonal motion axes, caused by the necessary multi-chamber actuator structure and its reinforcements, under strong spatial constraints. This problem has not been solved yet, regardless of research efforts on designing various actuator structures. In this study, our goal was to enable flexion of all three finger joints and abduction-adduction of the MCP joint, while minimizing the interference and realizing required ranges of motion. For this, we propose two new types of fiber reinforcements (separate single loops and two-directional hitching) and their combination to direct a multi-chamber structure’s expansion and strengthen its force output into the wanted directions. The reinforcements’ effects on actuator response were evaluated by attaching prototypes to a dummy finger and measuring its range of motion and related joint torques and forces. Results showed that the single loops provided length extension, while the hitching constrained it from the bottom at the centerline and strengthened flexion. When combined, they could be used to adjust the amount of length extension and flexion along the actuator, without detrimentally affecting the flexion or abduction-adduction functions. In conclusion, the two new reinforcement types have the potential of being a major design factor for fitting the actuators’ response for different users’ finger kinematics.

[1]  P. Hahn,et al.  Quantitative Analysis of the Linkage between the interphalangeal Joints of the Index Finger , 1995, Journal of hand surgery.

[2]  Wenwei Yu,et al.  Pneumatic Multi-Pocket Elastomer Actuators for Metacarpophalangeal Joint Flexion and Abduction-Adduction , 2017 .

[3]  S. Leonhardt,et al.  A survey on robotic devices for upper limb rehabilitation , 2014, Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

[4]  Nazir Kamaldin,et al.  A Magnetic Resonance Compatible Soft Wearable Robotic Glove for Hand Rehabilitation and Brain Imaging , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[5]  Lim Jeong Hoon,et al.  Design and evaluation of Rheumatoid Arthritis rehabilitative Device (RARD) for laterally bent fingers , 2016, 2016 6th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob).

[6]  D. Rus,et al.  Design, fabrication and control of soft robots , 2015, Nature.

[7]  Oliver Brock,et al.  A novel type of compliant and underactuated robotic hand for dexterous grasping , 2016, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[8]  Oliver Brock,et al.  Exploitation of environmental constraints in human and robotic grasping , 2015, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[9]  Mark L Latash,et al.  Multifinger ab- and adduction strength and coordination. , 2008, Journal of hand therapy : official journal of the American Society of Hand Therapists.

[10]  Clifford Warren Ashley,et al.  The Ashley Book of Knots , 1944 .

[11]  Daniela Rus,et al.  Design, kinematics, and control of a soft spatial fluidic elastomer manipulator , 2016, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[12]  J. Dunlop,et al.  The Geometric Design and Fabrication of Actuating Cellular Structures , 2015 .

[13]  Robert J. Wood,et al.  A soft wearable robotic device for active knee motions using flat pneumatic artificial muscles , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

[14]  Hong Kai Yap,et al.  Design and Preliminary Feasibility Study of a Soft Robotic Glove for Hand Function Assistance in Stroke Survivors , 2017, Front. Neurosci..

[15]  T. Milner,et al.  HandCARE: A Cable-Actuated Rehabilitation System to Train Hand Function After Stroke , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[16]  Robert J. Wood,et al.  Soft robotic glove for combined assistance and at-home rehabilitation , 2015, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[17]  J N A L Leijnse,et al.  Kinematic evaluation of the finger's interphalangeal joints coupling mechanism--variability, flexion-extension differences, triggers, locking swanneck deformities, anthropometric correlations. , 2010, Journal of biomechanics.

[18]  Brian Byunghyun Kang,et al.  Exo-Glove PM: An Easily Customizable Modularized Pneumatic Assistive Glove , 2017, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.

[19]  Matteo Cianchetti,et al.  On Intrinsic Safety of Soft Robots , 2017, Front. Robot. AI.

[20]  Sridhar Kota,et al.  Evaluating mobility behavior of fluid filled fiber-reinforced elastomeric enclosures , 2012 .

[21]  Stephen A. Morin,et al.  Soft Robotics: Review of Fluid‐Driven Intrinsically Soft Devices; Manufacturing, Sensing, Control, and Applications in Human‐Robot Interaction   , 2017 .

[22]  Filip Ilievski,et al.  Soft robotics for chemists. , 2011, Angewandte Chemie.

[23]  H. Kawasaki,et al.  Hand Rehabilitation Support System Based on Self-Motion Control, with a Clinical Case Report , 2006, 2006 World Automation Congress.

[24]  Daisuke Sasaki,et al.  Development of Soft Power-Assist Glove and Control Based on Human Intent , 2011, J. Robotics Mechatronics.

[25]  Yi Sun,et al.  A Fully Fabric-Based Bidirectional Soft Robotic Glove for Assistance and Rehabilitation of Hand Impaired Patients , 2017, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.

[26]  H. Mckellop,et al.  Functional range of motion of the joints of the hand. , 1990, The Journal of hand surgery.

[27]  Peter Crome,et al.  Hand function and stroke , 2002 .

[28]  Panagiotis Polygerinos,et al.  Design and control of a 3-chambered fiber reinforced soft actuator with off-the-shelf stretch sensors , 2017, International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications.

[29]  J. Krakauer The applicability of motor learning to neurorehabilitation , 2020, Oxford Textbook of Neurorehabilitation.

[30]  Rita M Patterson,et al.  Soft robotic devices for hand rehabilitation and assistance: a narrative review , 2018, Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

[31]  Hong Kai Yap,et al.  A soft exoskeleton for hand assistive and rehabilitation application using pneumatic actuators with variable stiffness , 2015, 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

[32]  Daniela Rus,et al.  A Recipe for Soft Fluidic Elastomer Robots , 2015, Soft robotics.

[33]  Robert J. Wood,et al.  Mechanically programmable bend radius for fiber-reinforced soft actuators , 2013, 2013 16th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR).

[34]  Fionnuala Connolly,et al.  Automatic design of fiber-reinforced soft actuators for trajectory matching , 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[35]  Kevin C. Galloway,et al.  Interaction Forces of Soft Fiber Reinforced Bending Actuators , 2017, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[36]  Arianna Menciassi,et al.  Modular soft mechatronic manipulator for minimally invasive surgery (MIS): overall architecture and development of a fully integrated soft module , 2015 .