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Researchers at Amirkabir University of Technology have developed a soft robotic rehabilitation glove.
| Post date: 2023/12/26 |
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Researchers at Amirkabir University of Technology have succeeded in designing a rehabilitation glove with a new method and soft robot. According to the public relations office of Amirkabir University of Technology, Mohammad Mehdi Dalai, a graduate of Amirkabir University of Technology and the executor of the "Design and Implementation of Rehabilitation Glove" project, said: Dysfunction of the hand, which is one of the most commonly used organs in daily life, creates multiple problems in human life.He stated that hand rehabilitation and improvement of its function have a significant impact on the quality of life of patients. Rehabilitation is a continuous process that requires a high cost and time with repeated visits to medical centers. Today, researchers are developing rehabilitation robots to minimize the time and cost spent during the rehabilitation period.
The researcher at Amirkabir University of Technology said: In Iran, due to the lack of rehabilitation centers and the increasing aging population and patients with stroke and disabilities resulting from it, there is a need for a rehabilitation robot for the hand that can be used as a product for the general public.
Dalai noted: In this research, it was decided to design and produce a lightweight and affordable rehabilitation glove to help people with disabilities in hand function for recovery.
He added: The product made in this project, considering its features such as lightness, two-way function (opening and closing fingers), and mirror exercises, effectively fulfills the purpose of this research, which is the recovery of patients' hands in all stages of rehabilitation.
He stated that for the construction of this glove, polymer sheets and heat sealing have been used, which is a new method in soft robot construction. The design of the seams of this glove is also considered a new method compared to previous research. He said: The product produced has not been commercialized domestically and is cheaper and has better performance characteristics compared to its foreign counterparts.
He mentioned that in the construction of this glove, we used soft actuators. He said: Soft robots in previous research are often made of silicone, which requires molding and a lengthy manufacturing process. For this reason, we used polymer sheets to make soft actuators.
The researcher at Amirkabir University of Technology said: The product produced in this research can be used in rehabilitation centers and physiotherapy, and due to the independence of the product from the presence of a physical physiotherapist during rehabilitation exercises, patients with hand dysfunction can continue their exercises at home by purchasing this product.
The researcher stated that the next step is clinical trials on patients and feedback from physiotherapists. If necessary, the product will be modified and moved to the commercialization and mass production stage.
He added that this design has no domestic prototype. He said: The foreign sample of this product is also made using bulky and heavy tubular structures, which cannot actively open the fingers.
Dalai mentioned the competitive advantages of the design: being lighter and easier to use, having a lower overall cost, and the ability to actively open and close the fingers are among the advantages of the design.
It should be noted that the supervisors of this project are Dr. Mohammad Zarei Nezhad and Dr. Abdolreza Owghadi Hamedani, faculty members of Amirkabir University of Technology.
This research, which is product-oriented, was ranked first in the first national festival of rehabilitation technologies held at the University of Rehabilitation Sciences and Social Welfare.
This project has been completed by the researchers of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the New Technologies Research Center of Amirkabir University of Technology.