Control and kinematic performance analysis of an Actuated Finger Exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation following stroke

Abstract

Finger impairment following stroke results in significant deficit in hand manipulation and the performance of everyday tasks. Recent advances in rehabilitation robotics have shown improvement in efficacy of rehabilitation. Current devices, however, lack the capacity to accurately interface with the human finger at levels of velocity and torque comparable to the performance of everyday hand manipulation tasks. To fill this need, we have developed the Actuated Finger Exoskeleton (AFX), a three degree-of-freedom robotic exoskeleton for the index finger. This paper outlines the implementation and initial kinematic analysis of the AFX.