An Electro- Pneumatic Glove Using a Soft Actuator for Flat Pinch Movement in Pediatric Finger Rehabilitation

Abstract

This research presents a development, analysis, and evaluation of a soft robotic electro-pneumatic glove using an actuator specifically designed for finger children rehabilitation. The actuator's design focused on enabling flat pinch movement of a finger, which is crucial for grasping and object manipulation. Furthermore, a detailed manufacturing process of the actuator construction is exposed. In addition, kinematic and kinetic analysis of the actuator was undertaken. The results demonstrate that the electro-pneumatic glove could replicate the flat pinch finger movement.