Towards Unsupervised Rehabilitation: Development of a Portable Compliant Device for Sensorimotor Hand Rehabilitation

Sensorimotor impairments of the hand after stroke can drastically reduce the ability to perform activities of daily living. Recently, there has been an increased interest in minimally supervised and unsupervised rehabilitation to increase therapy dosage and to complement conventional therapy. Several devices have been developed that are simple to use and portable. Yet, they do not incorporate diversified somatosensory feedback, which has been suggested to promote sensorimotor recovery. Here we present the prototype of a portable one-degree-of-freedom hand trainer based on a novel compliant shell mechanism. Our solution is safe, intuitive, and can be used for various hand sizes. Importantly, it also provides rich sensory feedback through haptic rendering. We complement our device with a rehabilitation game, where we leverage interactive tangible game elements with diverse haptic characteristics to provide somatosensory training and foster recovery.