Design, Fabrication and Verification of Continuous Passive Motion Equipment for the Index Finger

Abstract

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a polymer-based tendon-driven wearable continuous passive machine for the hand. Passive means the machine is moving the hand and the patients do not actively move his hand. Providing relaxing feeling and easy wearing comfort for people, flexion and extension motions and other biomechanical consideration are the key points to this design in considering the cases of practical use. Thus by using silicone hospital environmental hygiene provided and design features permit adjustment for different hand sizes and protect users from injury. It uses one motor for the index finger and an under-actuation mechanism to grasp various objects. Finally, performance and simultaneous movement of human and robot were verified by comparing the trajectory of mechanism, desired trajectory obtained from healthy hand and simulation. Variance and error came to an acceptable range according to the Ashworth scale.