A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for Rehabilitation

Stroke-related hand dysfunction significantly limits the ability to perform daily activities. Pneumatic soft gloves can provide rehabilitation training and support for individuals with impaired hand function, enhancing their independence. This paper presents a novel pneumatic soft robotic system for...

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Main Authors: Xiaohui Wang, Qinkun Cheng, Zhifeng Wang, Yongxu Lu, Zhaowei Zhang, Xingang Zhao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Biomimetics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/10/3/129
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author Xiaohui Wang
Qinkun Cheng
Zhifeng Wang
Yongxu Lu
Zhaowei Zhang
Xingang Zhao
author_facet Xiaohui Wang
Qinkun Cheng
Zhifeng Wang
Yongxu Lu
Zhaowei Zhang
Xingang Zhao
author_sort Xiaohui Wang
collection DOAJ
description Stroke-related hand dysfunction significantly limits the ability to perform daily activities. Pneumatic soft gloves can provide rehabilitation training and support for individuals with impaired hand function, enhancing their independence. This paper presents a novel pneumatic soft robotic system for hand rehabilitation featuring bidirectional bending actuators. The system comprises a pneumatic soft glove and a pneumatic control platform, enabling various rehabilitation gestures and assisting with finger grasping. The main bending module of the pneumatic soft actuator features a three-stage cavity structure, allowing for a wider range of finger rehabilitation training gestures and greater bending angles. The reverse-bending module uses a trapezoidal cavity design to enhance the reverse-bending capability, effectively facilitating finger extension motion. The pneumatic control platform is simple to set up, but effectively controls the actuators of the soft glove, which enables both main and reverse bending. This allows individuals with hand impairments to perform various gestures and grasp different objects. Experiments demonstrate that the pneumatic soft glove has a measurable load capacity. Additionally, the pneumatic soft glove system is capable of executing single-finger movements, a variety of rehabilitation gestures, and the ability to grasp different objects. This functionality is highly beneficial for the rehabilitation of individuals with hand impairments.
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spelling doaj-art-ed7f843d966e4596bea4eb3a05f2a6fa2025-08-20T02:42:42ZengMDPI AGBiomimetics2313-76732025-02-0110312910.3390/biomimetics10030129A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for RehabilitationXiaohui Wang0Qinkun Cheng1Zhifeng Wang2Yongxu Lu3Zhaowei Zhang4Xingang Zhao5State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, ChinaStroke-related hand dysfunction significantly limits the ability to perform daily activities. Pneumatic soft gloves can provide rehabilitation training and support for individuals with impaired hand function, enhancing their independence. This paper presents a novel pneumatic soft robotic system for hand rehabilitation featuring bidirectional bending actuators. The system comprises a pneumatic soft glove and a pneumatic control platform, enabling various rehabilitation gestures and assisting with finger grasping. The main bending module of the pneumatic soft actuator features a three-stage cavity structure, allowing for a wider range of finger rehabilitation training gestures and greater bending angles. The reverse-bending module uses a trapezoidal cavity design to enhance the reverse-bending capability, effectively facilitating finger extension motion. The pneumatic control platform is simple to set up, but effectively controls the actuators of the soft glove, which enables both main and reverse bending. This allows individuals with hand impairments to perform various gestures and grasp different objects. Experiments demonstrate that the pneumatic soft glove has a measurable load capacity. Additionally, the pneumatic soft glove system is capable of executing single-finger movements, a variety of rehabilitation gestures, and the ability to grasp different objects. This functionality is highly beneficial for the rehabilitation of individuals with hand impairments.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/10/3/129pneumatic soft glovebidirectional bending actuatorrehabilitation gesturesassisted grip
spellingShingle Xiaohui Wang
Qinkun Cheng
Zhifeng Wang
Yongxu Lu
Zhaowei Zhang
Xingang Zhao
A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for Rehabilitation
Biomimetics
pneumatic soft glove
bidirectional bending actuator
rehabilitation gestures
assisted grip
title A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for Rehabilitation
title_full A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for Rehabilitation
title_fullStr A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for Rehabilitation
title_full_unstemmed A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for Rehabilitation
title_short A Pneumatic Soft Glove System Based on Bidirectional Bending Functionality for Rehabilitation
title_sort pneumatic soft glove system based on bidirectional bending functionality for rehabilitation
topic pneumatic soft glove
bidirectional bending actuator
rehabilitation gestures
assisted grip
url https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/10/3/129
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