Attention Enhancement for Exoskeleton-Assisted Hand Rehabilitation Using Fingertip Haptic Stimulation

Active enrollment in rehabilitation training yields better treatment outcomes. This paper introduces an exoskeleton-assisted hand system. It is the first attempt to combine fingertip cutaneous haptic stimulation with for participation enhancement. For time, soft material 3D printing techniques are adopted make pneumatic feedback actuators achieve cheaper and faster iterations of prototype designs consistent quality. The synchronized motion our exoskeleton. contact force fingertips resulted from a virtual interaction glass water was based on data collected normal motions grasp water. System characterization experiments were conducted without compared experiment involving healthy human subjects. Users’ attention levels monitored control process using Brainlink EEG-recording device software. results show that created lightweight (6.8 ± 0.23 g each PLA fixture Velcro) their performance stable small hysteresis. user study experimental participants had significantly higher additional stimulations when only exoskeleton deployed; heavier stimulated grasping weight (a 300 glass) associated lighter 150 applied. We conclude increase involvement level subjects during exercises. Potentially, proposed may attract user’s treatment.