An assistive robotic glove is any powered device that helps someone with weakness or a lack of movement in their natural hand to understand objects.
The unit can be a glove or it is actually a hand exoskeleton — it doesn't matter. The key feature is to augment the user's grasping capabilities.
This really is usually necessary since the natural hand has lost function because of paralysis, arthritis, or another disease or injury. Design Considerations for Assistive Robotic Gloves
You will find two driving considerations when designing assistive robotic gloves:
The user's level of movement and/or strength in the natural hand. The fact the natural hand continues to be present.
Their education of movement and/or strength in the natural hand is important because it dictates the level of required augmentation. If the natural hand has complete movement but is weak, the look requirement is only to tighten or strengthen the hand's grip following the thumb and fingers have already moved right into a grasping position. The NUADA glove is an excellent example of this design. It never forces the digits to move but it may augment the user's grip sufficiently to lift 40 kilograms, that will be roughly equivalent to the unisex average maximum grip force of an all-natural hand.
If the user cannot move his hand, then the assistive device must move it for him. In this instance, designers should be cautious not to damage the natural hand.
Note the way the Neomano will force the user's index and middle fingers to close but only under direct control via control buttons. Also, the grip strength is restricted to a lift capacity of only 2 kilograms, so even when an individual accidentally forces the fingers to close at the wrong time, that is unlikely to cause injury.
There's another subtlety to this glove: the user will need to have the capability to at the very least relax his fingers to greatly help open them. The reason being the glove cannot force the fingers open. It can only help close them. When the user causes the glove to produce an object, all it will is basically release the tension that has been previously applied to the fingers via the artificial tendons. The fingers must have sufficient mobility to take advantage of this relaxed state.