Modeling, Design, and Manufacture of Tendon-based Exoskeleton for Finger Rehabilitation

Due to the high number of patients with cerebrovascular disease and stroke, which results in paralysis of organs on one side of the body, including the hand, as well as limitations in traditional rehabilitation methods, it is necessary to build devices to help these people. In this study, initially, given the challenges involved in designing an exoskeleton, the initial design was a mechanism for using it as a continuous passive motion to rehabilitate the fingers. This mechanism is tendon-based and covers both the flexion and extension of the fingers. For this purpose, two active and passive actuators have been used in the exoskeleton, respectively, to flex and extend the fingers. The distinctive feature of this design is its lightness, low volume, adjustability for different hands, compatibility, and comfort for the patient. Also, the kinematics and dynamics relationships modeled on the Lagrange method. The exoskeleton movement simulated in interaction with the finger with MATLAB sim-mechanics software. Finally, using simulation and modeling results, the final design was performed by considering the force of 40 N along the tendon, the exoskeleton made for the index finger. Also, the results of analytical modeling and simulation compared; the error rate of modeling obtained. In the worst case, this value was 15% for the first and second finger joints and 20% for the third joint.