PFI (MCA): Self-Contained Soft Robotic Rehabilitation Device for Finger Extension Exercises

创新伙伴关系-中期职业发展（PFI-MCA）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于改善中风或神经运动障碍患者手指和手部康复的可及性。反过来，这又加速了它们的复苏。它可以降低拳头患者的总体成本，拳头患者表现为肌肉活动过度活跃和手指屈肌过度紧张，降低了手指伸展的能力。为了恢复手和手指的运动功能，患者必须进行以活动为基础的治疗，每天重复手和手指的特定锻炼。获得治疗的机会有限，这使得患者很难坚持这种高强度的康复常规。因此，机器人设备可以在患者家中协助和监控这些重复的时刻，可能会改善康复的机会，并促进更可持续的康复过程。目前市场上销售的气动驱动的软机器人康复手套无法让握紧拳头的中风患者张开手指。如果没有帮助，病人也很难穿上它们。针对现有康复手套的缺点，本项目开发了一种独立的、不受限制的柔性机器人设备，该设备由相变材料制成，由热驱动，用于辅助握拳患者的手指伸展康复练习。该项目将设计、制作原型并测试一种热驱动、独立的软机器人设备，以帮助中风后拳头握紧的患者在家中进行手部康复。本研究的优点和预期成果包括：1。设计并制作一个独立的用于手指伸展练习的软体机器人装置：考虑到握紧拳头的患者能够张开手指，提出的设计为手指提供主动伸展辅助。该项目将使用相变材料材料-弹性体复合材料形成独特的固化弹性体结构，设计并制作一个软体机器人装置的原型，该装置在中性状态下适合紧握的拳头，并在驱动时推动手指张开。2. 测试-从机械和人体受试者测试中收集的数据将用于分析设备的功效，并估计未来更大规模临床试验的参与者数量，使设计更接近上市产品。3. 专门设计的调查工具用于研究卒中患者报告体验测量（prem）：调查工具和结果可以应用于其他对卒中患者报告体验测量感兴趣的人，并验证拟议设计所需的功能和规格，以支持质量改进和加强以患者为中心的护理。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Mid Career Advancement (PFI-MCA) project is in improving accessibility to finger and hand rehabilitation for patients suffering from stroke or neurological movement disorders. In turn, it speeds up their recoveries. It could reduce the overall costs for patients with clenched fists, which present as overactive muscle activity and excessive tightness of the finger flexors, decreasing the ability to perform finger extension. To regain hand and finger motor functions, patients must engage in activity-based therapy to repeat hand- and finger-specific exercises daily. Limited access to therapy makes it challenging for patients to adhere to such a high-intensity rehabilitation routine. Hence, robotic devices that can assist and monitor these repetitive moments at a patient’s home could potentially improve access to rehabilitation and promote a more sustainable recovery process. Pneumatically actuated soft robotic rehabilitation gloves currently available on the market cannot open the fingers of a stroke patient with clenched fists. They are also difficult for patients to put on without assistance. Addressing existing rehabilitation gloves' drawbacks, this project develops a self-contained, unrestricted soft robotic device made with phase-changing materials and actuated by heat to assist finger extension rehabilitation exercises for patients with clenched fists.The proposed project will design, prototype, and test a thermally driven, self-contained soft robotic device to assist at-home hand rehabilitation for patients with clenched fists after stroke. The research merits and expected outcomes include: 1. Design and prototype a self-contained soft robotic device for finger extension exercises: Considering the ability to open fingers for patients with clenched fists, the proposed design provides active extension assistance to fingers. Using phase-changing material material-elastomer composites to form a unique curing elastomer structure, this project will design and prototype a soft robotic device that fits under the clenched fist in its neutral state and pushes fingers open when actuated. 2. Testing- Data collected from mechanical and human subject testing will be used to analyze the device's efficacy and to estimate participant numbers for future, larger-scale clinical trials to take the design one step closer to a marketable product. 3. Specifically designed survey instruments to study stroke-specific patient-reported experience measures (PREMs): Survey instruments and results could apply to others interested in PREMs for stroke patients and verify the function and specifications needed for the proposed design to support quality improvement and enhance patient-centered care.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.