MITEx: A Portable Hand Exoskeleton for Assessment and Treatment in Neurological Rehabilitation

• Published in: IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics Vol. 2023; pp. 1 - 6
• Main Authors: Astarita, Davide, Pan, Jun, Amato, Lorenzo, Ferrara, Paolo, Baldoni, Andrea, Dell'Agnello, Filippo, Crea, Simona, Vitiello, Nicola, Trigili, Emilio
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.01.2023
• Subjects: Actuators; Assistive robots; Behavioral sciences; Exoskeletons; Friction; Rendering (computer graphics); Thumb
• DOI: 10.1109/ICORR58425.2023.10304721
• ISSN: 1945-7901

This work describes the design and preliminary characterization of a novel portable hand exoskeleton for poststroke rehabilitation. The platform actively mobilizes the index-metacarpophalangeal (I-MCP) joint, and it additionally offers individual rigid support to distal degrees of freedom (DoFs) of the index and thumb. The test-bench characterization proves the capability of the device to render torques at the I-MCP level with high fidelity within frequencies of interest for the application (up to 3 Hz). The introduction of a feed-forward friction compensation at the actuator level lowers the output mechanical stiffness by 32%, contributing to a highly transparent behavior; moreover, the functionality of the platform in rendering different interaction strategies (patient/robot-in-charge) is tested with three healthy subjects, showing the potential of the device to provide assistance as needed.