| dc.description.abstract | Stroke and other neurological events affect millions of people across the globe every year, leaving more than half of them with significant upper limb impairment (over 350,000 annually in the US alone). After conducting customer discovery of over 150 members of the ecosystem, two populations with specific needs emerged. One category of patients has spastic (stiff) hands and needs help stretching, while the other group has flaccid hands and requires grasping assistance. While some therapeutic and assistive technologies exist, current at-home rehabilitation devices are inadequate. This work describes the customer discovery journey as well as the design and evaluation of a soft robotic powered hand orthosis for each patient demographic, with the goals of helping patients regain their independence and reducing hands-on time for caregivers and therapists. The prototypes developed are OrthoHand Extend, a simple therapeutic stretching aid, and OrthoHand Flex, a 3D printed grasping aid. The prototypes were tested on three neuro patients, and neared or exceeded the target design constraints. Most notably, OrthoHand Extend was able to comfortably stretch the spastic patients’ hands with increased consistency, and OrthoHand Flex enabled a stroke survivor with flaccid hands to perform previously unachievable activities of daily living. Furthermore, both prototypes are significantly faster to don and doff than any in literature. One is easily custom-sized and 3D-printed, while the other is made of inexpensive fabric. Both are designed to be powered by a portable, fluid powered actuation unit that patients could take home. These orthoses have the potential to revolutionize neurorehabilitation by making assistive devices more accessible to patients and lay the foundation for clinical trials and further device development. | |
