Development of hand rehabilitation system using wire-driven link mechanism for paralysis patients

In this paper, we present a hand rehabilitation system for patients suffering from paralysis or contracture. It consist of two components: a hand rehabilitation machine, which moves human finger joints using motors, and a data glove, which enables controlling the movement of the finger joints attached to the rehabilitation machine. The machine is based on the arm structure type of hand rehabilitation machine; a motor indirectly moves a finger joint via a closed four-link mechanism. We employ a wire-driven mechanism and coupled mechanism for DIP and PIP joints. These mechanism render the machine lightweight, and offer wider range of motion than conventional systems. The design specifications of the mechanisms and experimental results are shown.