Development of an Untethered Adaptive Thumb Exoskeleton for Delicate Rehabilitation Assistance

Robot-assisted thumb rehabilitation can improve the hand function of stroke patients because the thumb accounts for 40% of hand function. However, existing thumb rehabilitation robots are limited in terms of portability, comfort, adaptability, and independent joint actuation. This article proposes an untethered adaptive thumb exoskeleton that actively assists the 3-degree-of-freedom movements of the thumb. The exoskeleton is composed of an adaptive thumb mechanism and a spherical mechanism. The kinematics, statics, and performances of the adaptive thumb mechanism and the spherical mechanism are analyzed. Experimental validation is performed to test the workspace, self-alignment, interaction forces, admittance controller, and grasping assistance performance of the exoskeleton. The workspace and self-aligning experiments prove that the proposed exoskeleton can achieve a large workspace of the thumb joints and realize self-alignment. The interaction force experimental results show that the exoskeleton can reduce the tangential interaction forces by 76.8% and improve comfort. Finally, the control and delicate grasping assistance experiments validate the exoskeleton’s ability to realize the delicate grasping of the thumb. These characteristics show that the thumb exoskeleton has the potential to assist delicate thumb rehabilitation.