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Smart glove with intention detection and mechatronic finger actuation supporting elderly occupation (IronHand)

Projectomschrijving

IronHand: ondersteunt bij verminderde handkracht

Een goede handfunctie is van groot belang voor het uitvoeren van bijna alle taken in het dagelijks leven. Denk aan persoonlijke verzorging, vrijetijdsbesteding en werkgerelateerde activiteiten. Door ouderdom en het bijbehorende verlies van spiermassa kan de handkracht sterk afnemen. En soms komt het al op jongere leeftijd voor, bijvoorbeeld door een beroerte of reuma.

Hoe het werkt

IronHand is een handschoen met sensoren. Deze sturen een motortje aan dat de kracht van de hand vergroot. De handschoen vervangt de handfunctie niet maar geeft extra ondersteuning. De gebruiker zet zelf een beweging in – bijvoorbeeld knijpen, draaien of wringen – en de handschoen versterkt deze. Met speciale oefensoftware met games op een computerscherm is de handschoen ook therapeutisch te gebruiken, bijvoorbeeld voor handfunctietraining in de revalidatie. Eindgebruikers denken vanaf het begin van het project mee over het ontwerp en het uiteindelijke product.

Wat het oplevert

De IronHand helpt bij het zelf weer kunnen uitvoeren van dagelijkse handelingen, zoals persoonlijke verzorging, huishouden, vrijetijdsbesteding of werk. Zo kunnen gebruikers hun handfunctie behouden of zelfs verbeteren en beter zelfstandig functioneren in het dagelijkse leven. De handschoen neemt geen kracht over en houdt de conditie van de hand dus ook intact, zonder spieren en gewrichten te forceren. De computerspelletjes maken het oefenen in een therapeutische setting leuker. De gebruiker traint letterlijk spelenderwijs de spieren in hand en pols en houdt de therapie daardoor beter vol.

Voor wie

Voor mensen met een verminderde handfunctie die hun dagelijkse activiteiten zonder hulp willen blijven uitvoeren.

Verslagen


Samenvatting van de aanvraag

The IronHand project is based on the concept of a robotic glove that can add extra strength to the grip for persons with reduced hand function. The Iron Hand gloves can be worn as any other glove together with a power unit that is placed on the arm or on the back of the user and the embedded software adjusts the amount of extra force to the grip intention of the user. The glove will have a slim design and the same look and feel as a regular glove. The consortium is targeting the elderly market, in particular, enabling older adults with impaired hand function due to weak grip to continue managing their work occupation and community activities while preserving health and motivation to remain active. Weak grip is a common condition of older adults preventing them from performing everyday activities such as gardening, handiwork, etc. It can result from sarcopenia (normal degenerative loss of muscle mass related to aging) or be a consequence of acute diseases (such as stroke) or chronic diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis). Lack of exercise is currently thought to be a significant risk factor for sarcopenia. Not only muscle but the entire musculoskeletal system of muscle, neuromuscular responsiveness, endocrine function, vasocapillary access, tendon, joint, ligament, and bone, depends on regular and lifelong exercise to maintain integrity. Exercise and increases in activity have been shown to be beneficial in settings of sarcopenia, even in the very old. Therefore, the Iron Hand glove will incorporate intelligent algorithms in order to adapt the level of support so it still requires a mildly challenging effort from the user, instead of completely replacing the user's force. In addition, low handgrip strength has been consistently linked to premature mortality, disability and other health complications in middle-aged and older people. Therefore, monitoring handgrip activities may not only identify older people at risk of a disability, but may also aid in increasing the life expectancy of the elderly by being able to apply the correct strategies to help maintain muscle strength. Therefore, the Iron Hand glove will be able to collect usage data and remotely send the data to the user’s doctor or therapist. This function will be particularly important for the therapeutic applications of the glove (stroke rehabilitation, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis). The project will seek to develop a robotic glove specifically adapted for functional tasks in elderly occupation: • The glove can provide extra force for opening and closing the hand in order to address grasping weakness, • The glove is triggered by an “intention detection” logic that activates the support if and only if the user initiates the movement by a natural and intuitive movement intention (using advanced technologies such as electromyography detection to capture very early movement preparation) and maintains the grip pressure as needed, • The glove can be connected to an external display (mobile device or PC) that allows the user to perform specific, computer-game-like exercises tied to functional tasks in elderly occupation in order to keep the motivation to remain active. The project will also implement prototype software including: • Adaptive training software tracking the user’s daily activities. This means the exercise program will be constructed after analysing environmental data of the user (users will get different programs based on the type of occupation they have) • Monitoring and analysis software consisting of a user module (to display in a user-friendly way the activities over time) and a clinician module (to send remotely data captured from the glove to the user’s doctor or therapist). In summary, the Iron Hand project aims to develop a glove device that can be used to support elderly occupation and provide valuable therapeutic data on grip strength, allowing the users to receive better treatment to maintain muscle strength and increase their life expectancy, as well as helping them to recover faster from injuries or other hand mobility impairing diseases. The consortium assembled for this project includes 3 research performing SMEs in Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and 3 primary end-users organizations, supported by local universities. Roessingh Research and Development (RRD) is the largest Dutch scientific research centre for assistive and rehabilitation technology; Bioservo (Sweden) is an innovator in robotic glove hardware and firmware; Hocoma (Switzerland) is the leader in robotic rehabilitation therapy for neurological disorders; Nationaal Ouderenfonds is a charity that promotes quality of life for older persons in the Netherlands; Vuxenförvaltningen is the elderly care group of the municipality of Eskilstuna in Sweden; terzStiftung is a Swiss non-profit Service Provider and a Representative Body for older adults.

Onderwerpen

Kenmerken

Projectnummer:
320600001
Looptijd: 100%
Looptijd: 100 %
2014
2018
Onderdeel van programma:
Gerelateerde subsidieronde:
Projectleider en penvoerder:
Dr. G.B. Prange PhD
Verantwoordelijke organisatie:
Roessingh Research and Development
Lees meer over dit project in de brochure 'De Kweekvijver van AAL: samen ICT-oplossingen voor ouderen ontwikkelen en vermarkten' (pagina 32-33).