Development of an electric glove system that allows users to perform finger exercise with multiple DOF based on muscle activity signal and its clinical evaluation in rehabilitation of stroke patients

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15H03058
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
Research Institution	Chuo University
Principal Investigator	MOROMUGI Shunji 中央大学, 理工学部, 准教授 (70346930)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	和田太東京女子医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (10341512) 東登志夫長崎大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科(保健学科), 教授 (40244090)
Research Collaborator	ISO Naoki 医療法人稲仁会三原台病院, 作業療法士
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
Budget Amount *help	¥13,650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥10,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,150,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥5,070,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,170,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000)
Keywords	医療・福祉 / リハビリテーション / 指運動機能 / ロボット
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Authors have developed an electric-powered glove system to support upper-limb rehabilitation of hemiplegia patients and conducted a clinical test to evaluate its performance. 4 major functions presented in the research plan, active-assistive exercise, various hand finger operations, sensing ability of motion path and contact force at the finger tip during exercise, easy detachable connection between the glove and a controller, have successfully installed in the glove system. Clinical test has been started at a hospital but the data was obtained from one subject only because the development of the system has been largely delayed. However, the single case study shows beneficial effects of the exercise given by the proposed glove system in improving patient’s upper-arm function. It is hoped that the effects of the proposed training method by using the glove system for hemiplegic patients is clearly shown through the further research with more number of subjects.