WEARABLE EXOSKELETON DEVICE FOR HAND REHABILITATION

摘要

An exoskeleton device (100) for assisting the movement of a metacarpal-phalangeal joint (50) and of the wrist (30) of a hand, said metacarpal-phalangeal joint (50) arranged for carrying out a rotation θ about an axis substantially orthogonal to a flexion/extension plane Γ of said joint, said device (100) comprising a metacarpal support (150) arranged to be kept integral to a metacarpal portion of the hand, a phalangeal support (105) having means for fastening to a proximal phalanx, a kinematical chain between said metacarpal support (150) and said phalangeal support (105) to provide and carrying out a rotation of said phalangeal support (105) with respect to said metacarpal support (150), a serial mechanism for the wrist (300) operatively connected to said metacarpal support (150) and arranged to assist the flexion/extension of the anatomical joint of the wrist (30), ensuring also free ab/adduction movements, said serial mechanism for the wrist (300) comprising an ulnar support (302) arranged to be kept integral to a distal portion of the forearm (20). The serial mechanism for the wrist (300) comprises furthermore an ulnar slide (301) arranged to slide with respect to said ulnar support (302) along a predetermined line δ, said line δ being substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of said forearm, an articulated quadrilateral (303) comprising a first connecting rod (303a) and a second connecting rod (303b), parallel to each other and arranged in a direction substantially parallel to said line δ, a first segment (303c) pivotally connected to said slide (301) by a pivotal constraint (304), a second segment (303d) rigidly connected to said metacarpal support (150), said first (303c) and said second (303d) segment arranged to connect between them the end of said connecting rods (303a, 303b) by means of four passive spherical joints. In such way said metacarpal support (150) can rotate with respect to said ulnar support (302) about an axis whose position is not determined, said articulated quadrilateral (303) being adaptable passively to the rotation of the anatomical joint of the wrist, according to both the axes that are perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the forearm, without causing residual constraint forces.