Grab Force Measurement for Hand Orthosis

Rehabilitation is a key element in the recovery process of stroke survivors. As one part of the body is paralyzed, the recovery process takes time depending on the severity of the stroke. Mild stroke patients might be able to recover fast. Our research work is for such patients who have lost partial control of their hands due to mild stroke. Many of the existing studies does not take into account, the grab force for feedback to make a closed loop system. They only consider the opening and closing of the orthotic devices. The proposed system introduces a design to measure the grab forces of the fingers and thumb while grabbing an object. The measurement of the forces will be helpful in determining the torque requirements of the actuators used in hand orthotic devices.