Hybrid Control Interface of a Semi-soft Assistive Glove for People with Spinal Cord Injuries

Active assistive devices have been designed to augment the hand grasping capabilities of individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI). An intuitive bio-signal of wrist extension has been utilized in the device control, which imitates the passive grasping effect of tenodesis. However, controlling these devices in this manner limits the wrist joint motion while grasping. This paper presents a novel hybrid control interface and corresponding algorithms (i.e., a hybrid control method) of the Semi-soft Assistive Glove (SAG) developed for individuals with C6/C7-SCI. The secondary control interface is implemented to enable/disable the grasp trigger signal generated by the primary interface detecting the wrist extension. A simulation study reveals that the hybrid control method can facilitate grasping situations faced in daily activities. Empirical results with three healthy subjects suggest that the proposed method can assist the user to reach and grasp objects with the SAG naturally.