A novel, MRI compatible hand exoskeleton for finger rehabilitation

Abstract

Robotic technology can be used to effectively regain the previous dexterity of stroke patients in clinical therapy. At the same time, brain images taken with MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) are important for new rehabilitation treatments, and therefore it is useful to develop MRI compatible robot. With these ideas in mind, a novel, MRI compatible finger rehabilitation device was created (Fig.1.). It was also designed to be usable by many different people: it can be adjusted to different finger knuckles, and also the gap between one finger to another can be easily changed. By using an ultrasonic motor as its actuator, the device has been designed to be portable, with a high torque output. It enables the client to do extension and flexion rehabilitation exercises in two degrees of freedom (DOF) for each finger. Finally, several experiments have been carried out to evaluate the performance of the device.