케이블 구동 방식의 엄지 내전 운동 보조 장치 고안

Abstract

Thumb is the most important part of the human hand since it serves various grip tasks. Thumb adduction movement that adducts the thumb toward the index finger is used in activities of daily living (ADL), such as lateral grasp or manipulation of smartphones. Many patients with neurological disorders cannot control their thumbs dexterously. Most of the previous mechanisms to assist thumb adduction had complex and bulky structures since they focused on the movement, not performing ADL. In this study, we introduce a mechanism capable of thumb adduction in a compact volume so that it can be used in ADL. A Soft wearable glove with a cable-driven mechanism was applied to assist thumb adduction. Two cables: each cable pulling thumb to the palmar direction and dorsal direction, were used in this mechanism. Thumb was adducted by pulling the cable in the ratio of 6:7 for the palmar and dorsal direction in order to guide the thumb on the palm plane. We demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed mechanism through a motion capture system. As a result, we can observe that the thumb was adducted by 35° from the neutral position. Since this mechanism is compact, it could assist in-hand manipulation tasks.