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Recent Patents on Engineering

Author(s): Zhe Chen, Fangfang Zhan, Jingang Jiang*, Dianhao Wu and Jianpeng Sun

DOI: 10.2174/1872212117666220722141338

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A Review on Soft Hand Rehabilitation Robot

Article ID: e220722207000 Pages: 25

  • * (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

Background: In China, there are more than 2 million patients with hand function impairment caused by trauma and stroke each year. Since the hand is an important sensory and motor organ of the human body, the loss of hand function seriously affects people's daily activities and work. The current hand function rehabilitation robots are mainly rigid. The rigid robot has the problems of fixed rehabilitation track, high rigidity, and poor comfort. To solve this series of problems, soft hand function rehabilitation robots have been vigorously developed.

Objective: To introduce the classification, advantages and disadvantages, and development trend of existing soft hand rehabilitation robots. To provide for other researchers to understand its development status and future development trends.

Methods: The various products and patents of soft hand rehabilitation robots are summarized, and the structural features, merits, and demerits of typical soft hand rehabilitation robots are introduced.

Results: By analyzing a variety of soft hand function rehabilitation robots, the characteristics and the current problems of soft hand function rehabilitation robots are determined, the development trend of soft hand function rehabilitation robots has been prospected, the current research status of soft hand function rehabilitation robots are discussed and the prospects are carried out.

Conclusion: Because the rate of increase in patients with hand function loss is much greater than that of rehabilitation physicians, many patients cannot receive timely and effective treatment. Therefore, hand function rehabilitation robots have received people’s attention. Compared with rigid rehabilitation robots, soft hand function rehabilitation robots have diverse rehabilitation trajectories, high comfort, and low rigidity, so it is very necessary to develop soft hand function rehabilitation robots. In the future, soft hand function rehabilitation robots will inevitably develop towards simplification of structure, more comfortable wearing, economical, diversified functions, better curative effect, and safer development.

Keywords: Airbag, bionic mechanism, hand function rehabilitation, pneumatic artificial muscle, pneumatic cylinder, soft actuator, soft hand.

Graphical Abstract

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