Design of a robotic hand imitating hand and finger gestures for rehabilitation applications

Abstract

Rehabilitation is a therapy process that helps people who have lost their motor abilities partially or completely to restore their lost functions. Accuracy and continuity of the repetitive movements in the therapy process are important for the success of the rehabilitation process. Therefore, in order to ensure the continuity of the rehabilitation process, it is necessary to develop systems where exercises can be continued without going to rehabilitation centers. In this study, a robot hand prototype application that imitates both hand and finger movements has been developed for hand rehabilitation applications. An Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensor is used to detect hand movements and a flexible sensor is used to detect finger movements. The hand movements are used to control the two motors on the robot hand prototype, while the flexibility sensor controls the gripper on the robot, allowing the robot hand prototype to grip. The task completion times were recorded by giving the participants the task of moving a cylindrical object to the target point using the robot hand prototype.

Keywords

• Robotic hand
• finger movement
• hand movement
• rehabilitation

Rehabilitasyon uygulamalarına yönelik el ve parmak hareketlerini taklit eden robot el tasarımı

Öz

Rehabilitasyon, motor yeteneklerini kısmen ya da tamamen kaybeden kişilerin, kayıp fonksiyonlarını geri kazanmalarını sağlamalarına yardımcı olan bir terapi sürecidir. Terapi sürecinde tekrarlanan hareketlerin doğruluğu ve sürekliliği rehabilitasyon sürecinin başarısı açısından önem taşımaktadır. Bu nedenle, rehabilitasyon sürecinin devamlılığını sağlayabilmek adına, egzersizlerin rehabilitasyon merkezlerine gitmeksizin devam ettirilebileceği sistemlerin geliştirilmesi gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada, el rehabilitasyonu uygulamalarına yönelik hem el ve hem de parmak hareketlerini taklit eden bir robot el prototipi uygulaması geliştirilmiştir. El hareketlerini algılamak için Atalet Ölçüm Sistemi (IMU) sensörü, parmak hareketini algılamak için ise bir esneklik sensörü kullanılmıştır. El hareketleri ile robot el prototipi üzerindeki iki motoru kontrol edilmesi, esneklik sensörü ile ise robot üzerindeki kıskacın kontrol edilmesi ve robot el prototipinin kavrama hareketinin yaptırılması sağlanmaktadır. Katılımcılara, robot el prototipi kullanarak silindirik bir nesneyi hedef noktaya taşıma görevi verilerek, görev tamamlama süreleri kaydedilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Robot el
• Parmak hareketi
• El hareketi
• Rehabilitasyon

Kaynakça

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