AUTHOR=Salvietti Gionata , Franco Leonardo , Tschiersky Martin , Wolterink Gerjan , Bianchi Matteo , Bicchi Antonio , Barontini Federica , Catalano Manuel , Grioli Giorgio , Poggiani Mattia , Rossi Simone , Prattichizzo Domenico TITLE=Integration of a Passive Exoskeleton and a Robotic Supernumerary Finger for Grasping Compensation in Chronic Stroke Patients: The SoftPro Wearable System JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI VOLUME=8 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.661354 DOI=10.3389/frobt.2021.661354 ISSN=2296-9144 ABSTRACT=

Upper-limb impairments are all-pervasive in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). As a consequence, people affected by a loss of arm function must endure severe limitations. To compensate for the lack of a functional arm and hand, we developed a wearable system that combines different assistive technologies including sensing, haptics, orthotics and robotics. The result is a device that helps lifting the forearm by means of a passive exoskeleton and improves the grasping ability of the impaired hand by employing a wearable robotic supernumerary finger. A pilot study involving 3 patients, which was conducted to test the capability of the device to assist in performing ADLs, confirmed its usefulness and serves as a first step in the investigation of novel paradigms for robotic assistance.