New rubber glove robot offers help for people with hand disabilities

glove-robotA new rubber robotic glove, developed by Kyujin Cho of Seoul National University in South Korea, offers people with hand paralysis or disability the ability to perform daily tasks and routines with more ease and independence.

Cho, Director of  Biorobotics Laboratory at SNU, designed the Exo-Glove Poly, a soft wearable robot that addresses hand paralysis by allowing people to grasp or pinch different objects.

The goal of SNU Biorobotics Lab is to foster and educate innovative and empathetic researchers to become agents of change for the future. The team further hopes that more people with disability will be able to live a better independent life. Cho plans to make Exo-Glove Poly available to the masses by the end of 2017.

The flexible rubber glove robot is said to be superior to the bulky skeletons due to its lightweight, compactness and increased usability. The glove is said to have been built in a way that it can be worn everyday and is also waterproof.

The glove comprises of two fingers and a thumb that can fit over a wearers hand with a soft tendon routing system of wires. The motor is controlled by a simple switch which pulls the wires for the movement of hand.

The design of the glove can be adjusted according to the hand size and will also be able to protect users from any kind of injury.

Cho noted that each year about 500,000 people end up in a wheelchair. Around half of those also suffer injuries to their hand and that number doesn’t include the people who sustain injuries to their hands alone. To deal with complications like these, Cho and his team developed the robotic glove.