Feedback control of biomimetic exotendon device for hand rehabilitation in stroke

Many hand exoskeleton devices have recently been developed for hand rehabilitation of stroke survivors, but most hand exoskeletons focused on implementing joint movement driven by individual actuator located at the finger joints rather than considering function of hand muscle-tendons and their coordination. In order to achieve hand rehabilitation targeted on restoration of specific muscle-tendon functions, a biomimetic hand exotendon device (BiomHED) was introduced recently. This paper introduces a ring-type design of exotendon device for easier donning and the design of a feedback control system for controlling posture of the finger. Technical details of the feedback sensor and controller with preliminary experimental results are presented.