Passive MyHand

Initial Motivations and Goals

Following the work on MyHand-SCI, we’ve decided to work on a passive (purely mechanical) version of this device for opening the hands of stroke patients. This is because many individuals that would require such a device want to be able to do tasks in the kitchen and bathroom that requires being around water. They want to be able to interact with their environment to wash dishes and hold shower bottles in the shower among others. This is not possible if the orthosis is actuated with a motor and is connecting to various electronics. Individuals also expressed a want for adevice that is less robotic and bulky in feel. Something that is more lightweight and minimizes fatigure while being comfortable. Something we also wanted to consider was the ability for a person to put the device on and operate it one handed. This would increase a user’s ability to be independent. The passive MyHand aims to address these goals.

Iteration 1

We wanted to have a glove feel that would be comfortable and easy to put on. Having the glove fabric is convenient for attaching components to as well. Initially made use of silicon finger caps sewed in place to pull the fingers. A ratchet was attached at the wrist to be able to both pull the fingers open but also release them when wanted.

Iteration 2

Swapped out the ratchet for a different ratchet that contained its own wire routing. This minimzed the amount of ropes and things handing off the device. We replaced the silicon fingercaps with specially sized finger splints that would be veclro’d onto the glove. This allows for easy attachment and adjustability varying from person to person.

Iteration 3

The previous iteration had proper separation via the splints however, further routing direction long the tendons was needed to properly pull the fingers open. We prototyped a channel component from older projects to test how proper separation would affect the motion of the fingers. We saw significant improvement in the ability of the ratchet to open the fingers.

Iteraction 4

A cleaner version of the previous orthosis that adds in the channels for routing. Also takes in patient inputs to provide more visibility for the fingers themselves. The finger loops (used to provide separation) are now made to snap on and off, making it easier for a user to put their hand into the orthosis and then strap themselves in.

This is the most recent version of the orthosis with more updates to come!