Rehabilitation training interface for finger

This paper presents design and implementation of an active/passive hybrid interface for finger rehabilitation training, with the purpose of overcoming training inefficiency caused by the training method, which is implemented manually by rehabilitation physician. A magneto-rheological fluid based damper and a rehabilitation training handle have been connected to the axis of an electric motor in series, with an angle sensor and a force sensor being mounted on it. A ring-type structure supporting the disabled finger has been mounted on the end of the handle. The rehabilitation training of the disabled finger can be implemented by the handle, which is actuated by the electric motor and rheological damper simultaneously. Preliminary experiments have been conducted on the interface, and the results have verified that it possesses the merits of high fidelity, low impedance, large controllable output force, and so on, and it is suitable for finger rehabilitation training.