Hand exoskeleton

Abstract

The invention relates to a hand exoskeleton. The hand exoskeleton comprises a four-finger movement assembly and a thumb movement assembly which are connected with each other; the four-finger movement assembly comprises a four-finger driving mechanism and a four-finger fixing frame, the four-finger driving mechanism comprises a supporting seat, a driving piece is installed in the supporting seat, an arc-shaped supporting frame is fixed to the front end of the supporting seat, an arc-shaped sliding groove is formed in the arc-shaped supporting frame, and an arc piece and a chain which are connected front and back are installed in the arc-shaped sliding groove in a sliding mode; the chain is fixedly connected with the driving piece, and the front end of the arc piece extends out of the arc-shaped supporting frame and is fixedly connected with the four-finger fixing frame. The chain is driven by the driving piece to move front and back, so that the arc pieces are driven to rotate anticlockwise or clockwise in the arc-shaped sliding grooves, buckling and stretching movement of the four fingers and the thumb is achieved, and the size and weight of the hand exoskeleton can be greatly reduced. The rotating center of the arc piece track coincides with the center of the actual metacarpophalangeal joint, and therefore the comfort degree of finger bending and stretching is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of medical equipment, and in particular relates to a hand exoskeleton. Background Art

[0002] Most of the common hand exoskeletons currently use connecting rods and physical rotating shafts to drive the fingers. The physical rotating shaft serves as the rotation center of the exoskeleton finger joints, and the connecting rod is used to drive the finger rotation. Since the rotation of the connecting rod requires a large volume, the hand exoskeleton also has a relatively large volume and weight. At the same time, due to the existence of the physical rotating shaft, the rotation center of the exoskeleton finger joints cannot coincide with the user's actual finger joint rotation center, resulting in low comfort for finger flexion and extension. For example, the invention patent with application number CN202410681202.0 discloses a hand exoskeleton hand exoskeleton device, which generates rotational motion through a linear motor, multiple connecting rods, and rotating bearings to drive the flexion and extension of the finger joints. Summary of the invention

[0003] The main purpose of the present invention is to propose a hand exoskeleton that can effectively solve the problems in the background technology.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention is implemented through the following technical solutions:

[0005] A hand exoskeleton includes four-finger motion components and a thumb motion component connected to each other;

[0006] The four-finger motion assembly includes a four-finger driving mechanism and a four-finger fixing frame, the four-finger driving mechanism includes a support seat, a driving member is installed in the support seat, an arc-shaped support frame is fixed to the front end of the support seat, the interior of the arc-shaped support frame has an arc-shaped slide groove that passes through front and back, and an arc piece and a chain that are interconnected front and back are slidably installed in the arc-shaped slide groove, the chain is fixedly connected to the driving member and can move back and forth under the drive of the driving member, and the front end of the arc piece extends out of the arc-shaped support frame and is fixedly connected to the four-finger fixing frame;

[0007] The thumb motion assembly includes a thumb drive mechanism and a thumb fixing frame. The thumb drive mechanism has the same structure as the four-finger drive mechanism. The support seats of the thumb drive mechanism and the four-finger drive mechanism are connected to each other. The front end of the arc piece of the thumb drive mechanism is fixedly connected to the thumb fixing frame.

[0008] Preferably, the driving member includes a screw rod, a nut and a motor. The screw rod is rotatably installed in the support seat and driven by the motor. The nut is sleeved on the screw rod and fixedly connected to the chain.

[0009] Preferably, the arc-shaped support frame is provided with a hollow groove running through the upper and lower parts, and the front end of the arc-shaped support frame has protrusions on both sides, a bearing is installed between the two protrusions, and the bottom of the bearing is located in the hollow groove and abuts against the arc sheet.

[0010] Preferably, the four-finger fixing frame includes a connecting plate, the connecting plate is fixedly connected to the arc piece, and two annular frames are fixed at the front and rear bottom of the connecting plate.

[0011] The present invention provides a hand exoskeleton, which has the following beneficial effects:

[0012] 1. The present invention drives the chain to move forward and backward through a driving member, thereby driving the arc piece to rotate counterclockwise or clockwise in the arc-shaped slide groove to achieve flexion and extension movements of the four fingers and the thumb. It does not require the operating space of a large connecting rod, and can greatly reduce the size and weight of the hand exoskeleton.

[0013] 2. The center of the arc-shaped support frame of the present invention can be set at the center of the user's actual metacarpophalangeal joint, that is, the rotation center of the arc track coincides with the center of the actual metacarpophalangeal joint. In this way, when the exoskeleton drives the flexion and extension of the four fingers, no additional force will be generated on the hand, thereby improving the comfort of finger flexion and extension. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the hand exoskeleton of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of the four-finger driving mechanism of the present invention;

[0016] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the trajectory of the arc piece of the present invention.

[0017] In the figure: 1. four-finger driving mechanism; 11. support seat; 12. driving member; 121. screw rod; 122. nut; 123. motor; 13. arc-shaped supporting frame; 131. arc-shaped slide groove; 132. hollow groove; 133. raised part; 134. bearing; 14. arc sheet; 15. chain; 2. four-finger fixing frame; 21. connecting plate; 22. ring frame; 3. thumb driving mechanism; 4. thumb fixing frame. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clear, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the present invention.

[0019] The technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0020] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0021] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, "multiple" means two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined. In addition, the terms "installed", "connected" and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal connection of two components. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0022] Example

[0023] Reference Figure 1-2 , a hand exoskeleton, comprising a four-finger motion component and a thumb motion component connected to each other, wherein the angles and orientations of the four-finger motion component and the thumb motion component are set according to the actual motions of the four fingers and the thumb of the hand;

[0024] The four-finger motion assembly includes a four-finger driving mechanism 1 and a four-finger fixing frame 2, the four-finger driving mechanism 1 includes a support seat 11, a driving member 12 is installed in the support seat 11, an arc-shaped supporting frame 13 is fixed to the front end of the support seat 11, the interior of the arc-shaped supporting frame 13 has an arc-shaped slide groove 131 that passes through front and back, and an arc piece 14 and a chain 15 that are interconnected front and back are slidably installed in the arc-shaped slide groove 131, the chain 15 is fixedly connected to the driving member 12, and can move forward and backward under the drive of the driving member 12, and the front end of the arc piece 14 extends out of the arc-shaped supporting frame 13 and is fixedly connected to the four-finger fixing frame 2;

[0025] The thumb motion assembly includes a thumb drive mechanism 3 and a thumb fixing frame 4. The thumb drive mechanism 3 has the same structure as the four-finger drive mechanism 1. The support base 11 of the thumb drive mechanism 3 and the four-finger drive mechanism 1 are connected to each other. The front end of the arc piece of the thumb drive mechanism 3 is fixedly connected to the thumb fixing frame 4.

[0026] When the hand exoskeleton is in use, the four-finger fixing frame 2 is worn on the four fingers of the user, and the thumb fixing frame 4 is worn on the thumb of the user. The movement of the four fingers is controlled by the four-finger driving mechanism 1. Specifically, the chain 15 can move forward and backward in the arc-shaped slide groove 131 under the drive of the driving member 12. When the driving member 12 drives the chain 15 to move forward, the chain 15 drives the arc piece 14 to move forward, that is, the arc piece 14 rotates counterclockwise in the arc-shaped slide groove 131, thereby driving the four-finger fixing frame 2 to rotate counterclockwise, and then driving the metacarpophalangeal joints of the four fingers to flex. When the driving member 12 drives the chain 15 to move backward, the chain 15 drives the arc piece 14 to move backward, that is, the arc piece 14 rotates clockwise in the arc-shaped slide groove 131, thereby driving the four-finger fixing frame 2 to rotate clockwise, and then driving the metacarpophalangeal joints of the four fingers to extend.

[0027] Similarly, the movement of the thumb is controlled by the thumb driving mechanism 3, which has the same structure as the four-finger driving mechanism 1, and can also realize the adduction and abduction movements of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb. Under the control of the four-finger driving mechanism 1 and the thumb driving mechanism 3, the thumb and four fingers cooperate with each other to realize the grasping and side pinching movements of the whole hand.

[0028] The present invention drives the chain 15 to move forward and backward through the driving member 12, thereby driving the arc piece 14 to rotate counterclockwise or clockwise in the arc-shaped slide groove 131 to achieve flexion and extension movements of the four fingers and the thumb. It does not require the operating space of a large connecting rod and can greatly reduce the size and weight of the hand exoskeleton.

[0029] Reference Figure 3, looking at the palm and four fingers from the side, the metacarpophalangeal joints are between the four fingers and the palm, and the rotation center of the four fingers is located at the center of the metacarpophalangeal joints. The center of the arc-shaped support frame 13 of the present invention can be set at the actual metacarpophalangeal joint center of the user, that is, the rotation center of the arc track coincides with the actual metacarpophalangeal joint center, so that in the process of the exoskeleton driving the flexion and extension of the four fingers, no additional force will be generated on the hand, thereby improving the comfort of finger flexion and extension, and the same is true for the thumb. However, for the hand exoskeleton that currently uses a physical rotation axis as the rotation center of the exoskeleton finger joints, the physical rotation axis cannot coincide with the actual finger joint rotation center of the user, so during the driving process, additional force will be generated on the hand, greatly reducing the comfort of finger flexion and extension.

[0030] In a specific embodiment, the driving member 12 includes a screw rod 121, a nut 122 and a motor 123. The screw rod 121 is rotatably installed in the support seat 11 and driven by the motor 123. The nut 122 is sleeved on the screw rod 121 and fixedly connected to the chain 15.

[0031] When the motor 123 drives the screw rod 121 to rotate counterclockwise or clockwise, the nut 122 moves forward and backward on the screw rod 121, thereby driving the chain 15 to move forward and backward. The linear motion mode of the screw rod 121 and the nut 122 is simple in structure and light in weight.

[0032] In a specific implementation scheme, the arc-shaped support frame 13 is provided with a hollow groove 132 running through the upper and lower parts, and the front ends of the arc-shaped support frame 13 have protrusions 133 on both sides, and a bearing 134 is installed between the two protrusions 133. The bottom of the bearing 134 is located in the hollow groove 132 and abuts against the arc piece 14. The abutment between the bearing 134 and the arc piece 14 can reduce the structural resistance encountered by the arc piece 14 during movement. Preferably, the bearing 134 is a needle bearing.

[0033] In a specific implementation, the four-finger fixing frame 2 includes a connecting plate 21, which is fixedly connected to the arc piece 14. Two annular frames 22 are fixed to the front and back bottom of the connecting plate 21. Four fingers can be easily inserted into the two annular frames 22, making it convenient to wear the four-finger fixing frame 2. Similarly, the thumb fixing frame 4 can also adopt this structure.

[0034] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit the same. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments may still be modified, or some of the technical features may be replaced by equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A hand exoskeleton, characterized in that: It includes a four-finger motion component and a thumb motion component that are connected to each other; The four-finger motion assembly includes a four-finger driving mechanism and a four-finger fixing frame, the four-finger driving mechanism includes a support seat, a driving member is installed in the support seat, an arc-shaped support frame is fixed to the front end of the support seat, the interior of the arc-shaped support frame has an arc-shaped slide groove that passes through front and back, and an arc piece and a chain that are interconnected front and back are slidably installed in the arc-shaped slide groove, the chain is fixedly connected to the driving member and can move back and forth under the drive of the driving member, and the front end of the arc piece extends out of the arc-shaped support frame and is fixedly connected to the four-finger fixing frame; The thumb motion assembly includes a thumb drive mechanism and a thumb fixing frame. The thumb drive mechanism has the same structure as the four-finger drive mechanism. The support seats of the thumb drive mechanism and the four-finger drive mechanism are connected to each other. The front end of the arc piece of the thumb drive mechanism is fixedly connected to the thumb fixing frame.

2. A hand exoskeleton according to claim 1, characterized in that: The driving member comprises a screw rod, a nut and a motor. The screw rod is rotatably mounted in the support seat and driven by the motor. The nut is sleeved on the screw rod and fixedly connected to the chain.

3. A hand exoskeleton according to claim 1, characterized in that: The arc-shaped support frame has a hollow groove extending through the upper and lower parts, and the front ends of the arc-shaped support frame have protrusions on both sides, and a bearing is installed between the two protrusions. The bottom of the bearing is located in the hollow groove and abuts against the arc sheet.

4. A hand exoskeleton according to claim 1, characterized in that: The four-finger fixing frame comprises a connecting plate, the connecting plate is fixedly connected to the arc piece, and two annular frames are fixed at the front and rear of the bottom of the connecting plate.

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