Abstract
In this paper, we present the combination of the Soft-SixthFinger, a wearable robotic extra-finger designed to be used by chronic stroke patients to compensate for the missing hand function, with a robotic arm that is used as an assistive device to support the patient arm. The extra-finger is a tendon-driven modular structure worn at the paretic forearm. The robotic extra-finger is used jointly with the paretic hand/arm to grasp an object similarly to the two parts of a robotic gripper. The flexion/extension of the robotic finger is controlled by the patient using an Electromyography (EMG) interface embedded in a cap. The robotic arm is controlled to partially compensate for the weight of the paretic arm, while not interfering with the user arm motion. The system has been designed as a tool that can be used by chronic stroke patients to compensate for grasping in many Activities of Daily Living (ADL). We performed a pilot test to demonstrate that the proposed system can significantly improve the performance and the autonomy in ADL.
This work was supported in part by the EU Horizon 2020, project no. 688857 SOFTPRO.
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Hussain, I., Salvietti, G., Spagnoletti, G., Cioncoloni, D., Rossi, S., Prattichizzo, D. (2017). A Soft Robotic Extra-Finger and Arm Support to Recover Grasp Capabilities in Chronic Stroke Patients. In: González-Vargas, J., Ibáñez, J., Contreras-Vidal, J., van der Kooij, H., Pons, J. (eds) Wearable Robotics: Challenges and Trends. Biosystems & Biorobotics, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46532-6_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46532-6_10
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