DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE OF SOFT FINGER-GLOVES FOR REHABILITATION OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

Abstract

This article presents the development and production process of a glove designed for rehabilitation, and enhancing object manipulation capabilities for individuals with hand mobility limitations, using soft finger design. The soft fingers are constructed from a composite structure consisting of silicone rubber material. An automated calculation program is created in Python and integrated with Abaqus/CAE software, enabling the concurrent exploration of numerous parameters governing the soft fingers to choose a rational design of glove. Experimental tests reveal that the error of the experiment and simulation results is less than 7.8%. Furthermore, these deformable soft fingers can closely mimic the contours of human fingers. Leveraging the successful construction of the soft fingers, a corresponding soft glove is manufactured. Preliminary validated experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of these soft gloves in aiding patients with diverse exercise rehabilitation. Additionally, they provide support for basic tasks such as grasping objects weighing approximately 600 grams.