Robotic Hand Orthosis Providing Grasp Assistance for Patients with Brachial Plexus Injuries

项目总结/摘要 机器人手矫形器为臂丛神经损伤患者提供抓握辅助 臂丛神经是一个神经网络，它将源自颈脊髓的信号传递到 肩膀、手臂、手和手指。这些神经提供运动功能和感觉， 结构.成人臂丛神经的创伤性损伤可导致上肢瘫痪， 不同程度的严重性。手术干预可以恢复肩部、上部和肩部的运动和控制能力。 通过肌肉和神经移植，然而，手的移动性和控制是困难的， 恢复，导致严重残疾，并降低患者的生活质量， 这样的损伤后，机器人外骨骼技术可用于提供一种 能显著改善瘫痪手的灵活性的辅助装置。 本研究的总体目标是设计、制造、集成和测试一种轻型和 便携式机器人手矫形器，旨在通过完全可控的个人 手指驱动。这个目标是基于这样的假设，即使用这种机器人手矫形器将 结果表明，臂丛神经损伤成人的手的能力显着改善，评估 通过南安普顿手部评估程序（SHAP）。 为了实现这一点，几个新颖的设计方面被纳入。微型直线电机的使用 致动器和轻质材料允许电机和传感器都安装在背上， 并且消除了对笨重的外部致动单元的需要。此外，致动器具有 内置的力感测能力，以提供对施加到每个人的力的反馈 手指，甚至在与所抓物体接触之前。此外，手腕屈曲/伸展是 动力，导致比机器人矫形器中常见的更真实的抓握范例。 此外，将设计直观的控制系统，以便充分利用 每个手指，允许不同的抓持几何形状和运动。 本研究的具体目标概述如下： 1.设计和原型的机器人手矫形器的目标是创造一个独特的灵巧， 重量轻、便携式设备。此外，还需要采用各种控制方法， 将设计矫形器的能力。这将导致发展一个 实验研究平台，以确定设计和假设的可行性。 2.通过将机器人矫形装置提供给一小群成年人来进行机器人矫形装置的可行性试验 由于臂丛神经损伤而瘫痪的患者。将对患者进行评估 通过SHAP，他们各自的分数，无论有没有矫形器将被评估， 确定他们的灵活性和功能的改善水平。

Project Summary/Abstract Robotic Hand Orthosis Providing Grasp Assistance for Patients with Brachial Plexus Injuries The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that transfers signals originating in the cervical spinal cord to the shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers. These nerves provide motor function and sensation to those structures. Traumatic injury to the brachial plexus in adults can result in paralysis of the upper limb in varying degrees of severity. Surgical intervention can restore motion and control to the shoulder, upper arm, and lower arm through muscle and nerve grafts. However, hand mobility and control is difficult to restore, resulting in severe disability and decrease in quality of life for patients with impaired functionality following such an injury. Robotic exoskeleton technology can be utilized to provide an assistive device that provides significant improvement in the mobility and dexterity of a paralyzed hand. The overall objective of this research is to design, fabricate, integrate, and test a lightweight and portable robotic hand orthosis intended to restore hand functionality through fully controllable individual finger actuation. This objective is based on the hypothesis that use of such a robotic hand orthosis will result in significant improvement of hand ability for adults with brachial plexus injury, as evaluated through the Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP). To achieve this, several novel design aspects are incorporated. The use of miniature linear actuators and lightweight materials allows for the motors and sensors to all mount atop the dorsum of the hand, and eliminate the need for bulky external actuation units. In addition, the actuators have inbuilt force sensing capabilities to provide feedback on the force being applied to each individual finger, even before contact is made with a grasped object. Furthermore, wrist flexion/extension is powered, resulting in a more realistic grasping paradigm than is commonly found in robotic orthoses. Moreover, an intuitive control system will be designed in order to fully capitalize on the controllability of each finger, allowing for varied grasp geometries and motions. A summary of the specific aims of this study are: 1. Design and prototype the robotic hand orthosis with the goal of creating a uniquely dexterous, lightweight and portable device. In addition, the control methodologies required to exploit the full capabilities of the orthosis will be designed. This will result in the development of an experimental research platform to determine the viability of the design and hypothesis. 2. Perform a feasibility trial of the robotic orthosis device by providing it to a small cohort of adult patients suffering from paralysis due to a brachial plexus injury. The patients will be assessed via the SHAP, and their respective scores both with and without the orthosis will be evaluated to determine their level of improvement in dexterity and function.