A Novel Series Elastic Actuation Method in A Semi-soft Robotic Rehabilitation Glove

After neurological injuries, limited hand motor function often prevents independent living post-rehabilitation. This study introduces a soft robotic glove, employing flexible PLA (fPLA) and PLA to construct servo-aided series elastic actuation (SEA), investigating the potential of compliant materials in finger rotation via pressure input. The glove integrated force-sensitive resistor pressure sensors through layered and stitched PLA and fPLA, supported by servo arms for load balancing. Performance evaluation encompassed ball manipulation trials, stress-strain analysis, and one-sample t-tests. Results revealed accurate pressure-angle correspondence, indicating effective finger rotation. Despite differing stiffness, both PLA variants enhanced glove structure, influencing finger angle and rotational velocity. This study indicated that this series-elastic-actuation method could effectively rotate fingers with pressure input. Further experiments will clarify the effectiveness on patients.