Kamaldin Nazir, Nasrallah Fatima A, Goh James Cho Hong
IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2017 Jun;25(6):782-793. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2602941. Epub 2016 Aug 25.
In this paper, we present the design, fabrication and evaluation of a soft wearable robotic glove, which can be used with functional Magnetic Resonance imaging (fMRI) during the hand rehabilitation and task specific training. The soft wearable robotic glove, called MR-Glove, consists of two major components: a) a set of soft pneumatic actuators and b) a glove. The soft pneumatic actuators, which are made of silicone elastomers, generate bending motion and actuate finger joints upon pressurization. The device is MR-compatible as it contains no ferromagnetic materials and operates pneumatically. Our results show that the device did not cause artifacts to fMRI images during hand rehabilitation and task-specific exercises. This study demonstrated the possibility of using fMRI and MR-compatible soft wearable robotic device to study brain activities and motor performances during hand rehabilitation, and to unravel the functional effects of rehabilitation robotics on brain stimulation.
在本文中，我们展示了一种柔软可穿戴机器人手套的设计、制造和评估，该手套可在手部康复和特定任务训练期间与功能磁共振成像（fMRI）配合使用。这种名为MR - Glove的柔软可穿戴机器人手套由两个主要部件组成：a）一组柔软的气动致动器和b）一副手套。由硅橡胶制成的柔软气动致动器在加压时产生弯曲运动并驱动手指关节。该设备与磁共振兼容，因为它不包含铁磁材料且通过气动方式运行。我们的结果表明，在手部康复和特定任务练习期间，该设备不会在功能磁共振成像图像上产生伪影。这项研究证明了使用功能磁共振成像和磁共振兼容的柔软可穿戴机器人设备来研究手部康复期间的大脑活动和运动表现，以及揭示康复机器人对大脑刺激的功能影响的可能性。
