Development of an electrooculogram-activated wearable soft hand exoskeleton

Soft hand exoskeleton is one of the technological alternatives for patients with hand paralysis. Several designs had been proposed to assist these patients to improve their quality of life. However, some of them are heavy and bulky and are not suitable for daily use. This work proposes a lightweight soft hand exoskeleton that can be activated using Electrooculogram (EOG). It has an under-actuated mechanism and 3D printed parts with cable routed around the glove and weighs 110 g. A control strategy was developed so that the wearer can blink their eyes to flex and extend the fingers. A series of experiments was conducted to evaluate its efficacy in performing basic gripping and grasping. The exoskeleton has the ability to grip and grasp objects with different shapes and sizes. It is hoped that the integration of EOG and soft hand exoskeleton can provide a new and unique way of rehabilitating the patient's hand and assisting him/her in various activities of daily living (ADL).