Finger exoskeleton unit and hand exoskeleton actively driving five fingers to bend, stretch, unfold and fold

Abstract

The invention discloses a finger exoskeleton unit and a hand exoskeleton capable of actively driving five fingers to bend, stretch, unfold and fold, and belongs to the field of medical instruments. In order to reduce the transverse envelope volume, an existing hand exoskeleton sacrifices active driving in the unfolding and folding direction and lacks the ability of carrying out active driving training in the direction. The mechanical arm comprises a finger executing mechanism, a transmission mechanism and a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism can drive the finger executing mechanism to do pitching and / or side-sway movement through the transmission mechanism so that the finger executing mechanism can drive a single finger to do flexion and extension and / or unfolding and folding movement. According to the hand exoskeleton, the five fingers can be actively driven to stretch or retract and bend or stretch, then five-finger coordinated three-dimensional flexible movement is achieved, and compared with an existing exoskeleton which can only achieve five-finger bending and stretching movement or single-finger bending / stretching and stretching movement, the movement flexibility of each finger is guaranteed, and therefore the finger rehabilitation training effect is improved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of rehabilitation medical devices, and particularly relates to a finger exoskeleton unit and a hand exoskeleton capable of actively driving five-finger flexion and extension and abduction and adduction. BACKGROUND

[0002] Hand dysfunction is common in nervous system and musculoskeletal diseases such as stroke and spinal cord injury, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. Traditional rehabilitation training is highly dependent on professional rehabilitation therapists, which is high in labor cost and strict in the professional ability of therapists. However, there is a significant gap between the number of existing rehabilitation therapists and the actual needs of patients, which often leads to delayed rehabilitation treatment and further increases the social burden. In contrast, hand exoskeletons show obvious advantages in functional rehabilitation, such as low labor cost, high training intensity, and precise motion control, which are expected to alleviate the problem of insufficient traditional rehabilitation resources.

[0003] The center of rotation of the human hand is not fixed during movement, and the size of the fingers varies significantly between individuals. An exoskeleton with the function of self-alignment of joint axes can avoid joint misalignment damage caused by fixed center of rotation design. In addition, each finger of the human hand has two degrees of freedom of flexion and extension, and the coordinated action of the two degrees of freedom enables the finger to move flexibly in three-dimensional space.

[0004] At present, most exoskeletons with joint self-alignment function can only achieve flexion and extension of the whole finger, such as the “closed-chain cascaded wearable exoskeleton hand robot” disclosed in CN111135011B, or only support flexion and extension and abduction and adduction of a single finger, such as the “serial-parallel index finger exoskeleton with flexion and extension and abduction and adduction functions and method” disclosed in CN117901069B. An exoskeleton that can only achieve flexion and extension of five fingers limits the movement of the fingers to a two-dimensional plane, reducing the flexibility of the fingers in three-dimensional space. An exoskeleton designed for a single finger has two degrees of freedom of movement, but cannot meet the needs of five-finger coordinated training. The main reason for the above limitations is that the lateral envelope volume of the existing exoskeleton during abduction and adduction movement (i.e. the lateral volume occupied by the structure of the single-finger exoskeleton plus the lateral displacement generated by the abduction and adduction movement) is usually larger than the interdigital distance, resulting in interference and collision between the exoskeleton units of different fingers during movement.

[0005] Although a few exoskeletons can simultaneously achieve flexion and extension and abduction and adduction of the whole finger, such as the “joint axis self-alignment hand exoskeleton for assisting multi-finger abduction and flexion” disclosed in CN117180060A, this solution still has deficiencies: in order to reduce the lateral envelope volume, the active driving mechanism in the abduction and adduction direction is sacrificed, thus lacking the ability to actively drive training in this direction. Therefore, there is still a lack of a hand exoskeleton that can actively drive five-finger flexion and extension and abduction and adduction, and has the function of joint axis self-alignment. SUMMARY

[0006] Therefore, the present application provides a finger exoskeleton unit and a hand exoskeleton which can drive five fingers to bend and stretch and to spread and contract actively, and eliminates the lateral displacement required by the joint self-alignment exoskeleton when spreading and contracting, so that the lateral envelope volume of the exoskeleton unit is smaller than the distance between fingers, and the full-finger bending and stretching and spreading and contracting driving mechanism can be arranged in the limited palm space.

[0007] To solve the above technical problems, in one aspect, the present application provides a finger exoskeleton unit, comprising a finger part execution mechanism, a transmission mechanism and a driving mechanism, the driving mechanism can drive the finger part execution mechanism to make pitching and / or rolling motion through the transmission mechanism, so that the finger part execution mechanism drives a single finger to make bending and stretching and / or spreading and contracting motion.

[0008] Further, the finger part execution mechanism comprises a finger sleeve and a linkage plate, the finger sleeve is sleeved on the single finger, and the linkage plate is connected with the finger sleeve and is located at the back of the finger; the transmission mechanism comprises a driving joint, a left transmission rod and a right transmission rod, the driving joint is installed on the linkage plate, the left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are arranged side by side, and the front ends of the left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are connected with the driving joint, and the rear ends of the left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are connected with the driving mechanism.

[0009] Further, the linkage plate is a long strip-shaped plate, one end of the linkage plate extends to the joint between the second phalanx and the distal phalanx, and the other end extends to the metacarpophalangeal joint, and the width of the linkage plate is smaller than the finger width of the single finger.

[0010] Further, the driving joint comprises a joint seat and a joint shaft, the joint seat is installed on one end of the linkage plate close to the metacarpophalangeal joint, and the joint shaft is installed on the joint seat along the direction of the finger width, the front end of the left transmission rod is movably connected with the left end of the joint shaft, and the front end of the right transmission rod is movably connected with the right end of the joint shaft.

[0011] Further, the left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are ball head rods.

[0012] Further, the driving mechanism comprises a fixed base, pull rods, Bowden wires and a steering shaft, the fixed base is arranged at the back of the hand, the pull rods are arranged side by side on the fixed base, the pull rods are slidably connected with the fixed base, the front end of the left pull rod is movably connected with the distal end of the left transmission rod, the front end of the right pull rod is movably connected with the distal end of the right transmission rod, the steering shaft is installed on one end of the fixed base close to the finger, each pull rod is correspondingly provided with a Bowden wire, one end of the Bowden wire extends away from the finger and can be wound or released, and the other end of the Bowden wire is fixed at the distal end of the corresponding pull rod after winding around the steering shaft, also extends away from the finger and can be wound or released; when one end of the Bowden wire is wound, the other end is correspondingly released.

[0013] Further, four wire passing holes are arranged at the end of the fixed base away from the fingers, and each wire passing hole is provided with a wire sleeve, and each Bowden cable is provided with two wire sleeves arranged on the entering rope section and the exiting rope section of the Bowden cable.

[0014] Further, the steering shaft is provided with a bearing limiter and a steering bearing, the steering bearing is provided with two and corresponds to the two Bowden cables, each Bowden cable is wrapped around the corresponding steering bearing, and the bearing limiter is provided with three and is arranged alternately with the two steering bearings to fix the position of the steering bearing.

[0015] Further, each pull rod is connected with the fixed base through a sliding pair.

[0016] On the other hand, the application provides a hand exoskeleton, which comprises five finger exoskeleton units, each of which corresponds to a finger and is fixed on the hand according to the position of the corresponding finger, and each finger exoskeleton unit can drive the flexion and / or extension of the corresponding finger.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the application has the following beneficial effects:

[0018] 1. The hand exoskeleton can actively drive the extension and flexion of the five fingers, thereby realizing the three-dimensional flexible movement of the five fingers in cooperation, ensuring the flexibility of the movement of each finger, and improving the effect of finger rehabilitation training.

[0019] 2. When the exoskeleton drives the extension and flexion of the five fingers, the displacement directions of the left and right pull rods are along the length direction of the fingers, which eliminates the transverse displacement required when the joint self-aligning exoskeleton extends and retracts, so that the transverse envelope volume of the exoskeleton unit is smaller than the distance between the fingers, and the driving mechanism can avoid the interference between the adjacent two exoskeleton units during the extension and retraction.

[0020] 3. The application has the ability of joint axis self-alignment in three-dimensional space, and the kinematic model of the exoskeleton changes with the position of the finger joint, so that it can absorb the misalignment of the finger joint along the length direction of the finger, the misalignment along the width direction of the palm and the misalignment along the thickness direction of the palm, and can avoid the problem of joint misalignment damage. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] The accompanying drawings are part of the present application and serve to provide a further understanding of the present application.

[0022] Figure 1 Fig. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of the hand exoskeleton of the present application.

[0023] Figure 2 Fig. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of the finger exoskeleton unit of the present application.

[0024] Figure 3 This is an exploded view of the finger exoskeleton unit of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 4 This is a cross-sectional view of the finger exoskeleton unit of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 5 This is a structural diagram of the fixed base.

[0027] Figure 6 This is a diagram showing the state of the index finger being driven to perform an abduction movement according to the present invention.

[0028] Figure 7 This is a state diagram illustrating the abduction movement of the four fingers (excluding the thumb) driven by the present invention.

[0029] Figure 8 This is a diagram showing the state of the thumb being driven to flex in accordance with the present invention.

[0030] Figure 9 This is a diagram illustrating the state of the thumb and index finger being driven to flex.

[0031] Figure 10 This is a state diagram illustrating the combined movement of thumb extension and abduction driven by the present invention.

[0032] Figure 11 This is a state diagram illustrating the combined flexion and adduction movements of the thumb driven by the present invention.

[0033] Figure 12 This invention provides a lateral schematic diagram of how the five fingers are driven to perform bending movements.

[0034] Figure 13 A top-down schematic diagram of the invention driving the five fingers to perform bending movements.

[0035] Figure 14 The present invention provides an isometric view of the five fingers being driven to perform bending movements.

[0036] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures:

[0037] Components include: actuator 1, finger sleeve 11, and linkage plate 12;

[0038] Transmission mechanism 2, drive joint 21, joint seat 211, joint shaft 212, left transmission rod 22, right transmission rod 23;

[0039] Drive mechanism 3, fixed base 31, wire hole 311, pull rod 32, Bowden wire 33, steering shaft 34, sliding pair 35, pin 36, wire sleeve 37, bearing limiter 38, steering bearing 39;

[0040] 4 fingers. Detailed Implementation

[0041] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0042] On one hand, this invention provides a finger exoskeleton unit, primarily used for hand rehabilitation training. See also... Figure 1 It includes a finger actuator 1, a transmission mechanism 2 and a drive mechanism 3. The finger actuator 1 is fitted onto the distal phalanx of a single finger 4. The drive mechanism 3 is fixed to the back of the hand. One end of the transmission mechanism 2 is connected to the finger actuator 1 and the other end is connected to the drive mechanism 3. The transmission mechanism 2 is located at the metacarpophalangeal joint of the hand.

[0043] The drive mechanism 3 can generate a driving force on the finger actuator 1 through the transmission mechanism 2, causing the finger actuator 1 to perform pitch and / or lateral movements. When the finger actuator 1 performs pitch movements, it drives a single finger 4 to perform flexion and extension movements. When the finger actuator 1 performs lateral movements, it drives a single finger to perform lateral movements, and the entire hand exhibits an extension and retraction movement. When the finger actuator 1 performs both pitch and lateral movements, the single finger 4 simultaneously performs flexion, extension, and lateral movements, realizing the flexible movement of the single finger 4.

[0044] In this embodiment, multiple finger exoskeleton units can be provided, each finger exoskeleton unit corresponding to one finger 4, and fixed to the hand according to the position of the corresponding finger 4. This allows for the synchronous movement of multiple fingers 4, thereby achieving rehabilitation training for the entire hand.

[0045] See Figure 2 and Figure 3 The finger actuator 1 in this embodiment includes a finger sleeve 11 and a linkage plate 12. The finger sleeve 11 is fitted onto the distal phalanx of a single finger 4, and the linkage plate 12 is connected to the finger sleeve 11 and located on the back of the finger. The linkage plate 12 is a long strip plate, with one end extending to the joint between the second phalanx and the distal phalanx, and the other end extending to the metacarpophalangeal joint. The width of the linkage plate 12 is smaller than the width of a single finger. The transmission mechanism 2 includes a drive joint 21, a left drive rod 22, and a right drive rod 23. The drive joint 21 includes a joint seat 211 and a joint shaft 212. The joint seat 211 is mounted on the end of the linkage plate 12 near the metacarpophalangeal joint. The joint shaft 212 is mounted on the joint seat 211 along the finger width direction. Both the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23 are ball-joint rods. The left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23 are arranged side by side. The front end of the left drive rod 22 is movably connected to the left end of the joint shaft 212 via a ball joint, and the front end of the right drive rod 23 is movably connected to the right end of the joint shaft 212 via a ball joint. The rear ends of the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23 are movably connected to the drive mechanism 3.

[0046] In this embodiment, the displacement and direction of the left transmission rod 22 and the right transmission rod 23 are controlled by the drive mechanism 3 to realize the flexion and extension and / or abduction and retraction movements of the fingers. Specifically:

[0047] When the fingers are in an extended state, the drive mechanism 3 applies a driving force of the same magnitude and forward direction to the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23. At the same time, both ends of the joint shaft 212 are subjected to a forward thrust. This thrust is transmitted to the linkage plate 12 through the joint seat 211. The linkage plate 12 as a whole is subjected to a forward driving force. Since the linkage plate 12 is constrained by the fingers and metacarpophalangeal joints, the driving force is decomposed into a component force that rotates around the axis. At this time, the linkage plate 12 drives the fingers to make a downward movement around the metacarpophalangeal joint, thereby realizing the flexion movement of the fingers. Conversely, when the fingers are in a flexed state, the drive mechanism 3 applies a driving force of the same magnitude and in the same direction to the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23. At the same time, both ends of the joint shaft 212 are subjected to a backward pulling force. This pulling force is transmitted to the linkage plate 12 through the joint seat 211. The linkage plate 12 as a whole is subjected to a backward driving force. Since the linkage plate 12 is constrained by the fingers and metacarpophalangeal joints, the driving force is decomposed into a component force that rotates around the axis. The linkage plate 12 drives the fingers to make an upward movement around the metacarpophalangeal joint, thereby realizing the extension of the fingers.

[0048] When the drive mechanism 3 applies a forward driving force to the left drive rod 22 and a backward driving force to the right drive rod 23, the joint shaft 212 experiences a rightward rotational force. This rotational force is transmitted to the linkage plate 12 via the joint seat 211. The linkage plate 12, constrained by the finger and metacarpophalangeal joint, causes the finger to sway to the right around the metacarpophalangeal joint. Conversely, when the drive mechanism 3 applies a backward driving force to the left drive rod 22 and a forward driving force to the right drive rod 23, the joint shaft 212 experiences a leftward rotational force. This rotational force is transmitted to the linkage plate 12 via the joint seat 211. The linkage plate 12, constrained by the finger and metacarpophalangeal joint, causes the finger to sway to the left around the metacarpophalangeal joint. When each finger is driven by its corresponding drive mechanism 3 to perform a lateral swinging motion, the fingers of the entire hand exhibit an open or closed movement posture.

[0049] When the fingers are in an extended state, the drive mechanism 3 applies different magnitudes and forward directions of driving forces to the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23. The two ends of the joint shaft 212 are subjected to forward thrust and rotational force at the same time. The coupling force of the thrust and rotational force is transmitted to the linkage plate 12 through the joint seat 211. The linkage plate 12 is constrained by the fingers and metacarpophalangeal joints. The coupling force is decomposed into a component force of rotation around the axis and a component force of lateral swing. The linkage plate 12 drives the fingers to make downward movement around the metacarpophalangeal joints and also make lateral swing movement, thereby realizing the flexion and lateral swing of the fingers.

[0050] When the finger is in a flexed state, the drive mechanism 3 applies different magnitudes and backward driving forces to the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23. The two ends of the joint shaft 212 are subjected to backward tension and rotational force at the same time. The coupling force of the tension and rotational force is transmitted to the linkage plate 12 through the joint seat 211. The linkage plate 12 is constrained by the finger and the metacarpophalangeal joint. The coupling force is decomposed into a component force of rotation around the axis and a component force of lateral swing. The linkage plate 12 drives the finger to make an upward movement around the metacarpophalangeal joint while also making a lateral swing movement, thereby realizing the extension and lateral swing of the finger.

[0051] Therefore, it can be seen that when the drive mechanism 3 of this embodiment applies a driving force of the same magnitude and direction to the left and right transmission rods 23, the flexion and extension movements of the fingers can be realized by the synergistic action of the drive joint 21 and the linkage plate 12. When a driving force of different directions is applied to the left and right transmission rods 23, the extension and retraction movements of multiple fingers can be realized by the synergistic action of the drive joint 21 and the linkage plate 12. If a driving force of different magnitude but the same direction is applied, the combined flexion and extension and extension and retraction movements of the fingers can be realized simultaneously by the synergistic action of the drive joint 21 and the linkage plate 12. It should be noted that when the two transmission rods apply a driving force to the linkage plate 12 and the fingers through the drive joint 21, if the constraints of the fingers and metacarpophalangeal joints are ignored, the drive joint 21 and the linkage plate 12 will only move back and forth or swing laterally with the transmission rods. They cannot convert the horizontal displacement into rotational motion through the constraint axis, that is, they cannot independently realize flexion or extension movements. Therefore, only when the finger exoskeleton unit actually cooperates with the fingers and metacarpophalangeal joints and forms constraints can the translation of the transmission rods be converted into the rotation of flexion or extension of the fingers. In other words, after the exoskeleton unit of this application is combined with the fingers, it only has the metacarpophalangeal joint as the axis of motion and has the function of joint axis self-alignment, thereby avoiding the hand joint misalignment and potential damage caused by the fixed rotation center design of the exoskeleton unit.

[0052] Furthermore, the finger actuator 1 adopts a structure combining a finger sleeve 11 and a linkage plate 12, while the transmission mechanism 2 uses a drive joint 21 and two transmission rods, effectively reducing the lateral envelope volume of the fingers and providing ample space for multi-finger extension, thereby improving the effectiveness of finger rehabilitation training. Moreover, the drive joint 21 is positioned at the end of the linkage plate 12 near the metacarpophalangeal joint, which reduces the length of the left transmission rod 22 and the right transmission rod 23. This design avoids collisions and interference between the metacarpophalangeal joint and the two transmission rods during finger flexion and extension movements.

[0053] See Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 4The drive mechanism 3 in this embodiment includes a fixed base 31, pull rods 32, Bowden wires 33, a steering shaft 34, and a remote motor (not shown in the figure). The fixed base 31 is positioned on the back of the hand. Two pull rods 32 are arranged side-by-side on the fixed base 31, each pull rod 32 slidably connected to the fixed base 31 via a sliding joint 35. The front end of the left pull rod 32 is movably connected to the end of the left transmission rod 22 via a ball joint and a pin 36, and the front end of the right pull rod 32 is movably connected to the end of the right transmission rod 23 via a ball joint and a pin 36. The steering shaft 34 is mounted on the end of the fixed base 31 near the fingers. Each lever 32 is equipped with a Bowden cable 33 and a remote motor. One end of the Bowden cable 33 extends away from the finger and is wound around the motor shaft of the remote motor, allowing it to be wound or unwound by the remote motor. The other end passes around the steering shaft 34 and is fixed to the end of the corresponding lever 32 with screws, then extends away from the finger and is also wound around the motor shaft of the remote motor, allowing it to be wound or unwound by the remote motor as well. During operation, as the motor shaft of the remote motor rotates, one end of the Bowden cable 33 is wound / unwound, and the other end is correspondingly wound / unwound.

[0054] The fixed base 31 has four threading holes 311 at the end away from the fingers. Each threading hole 311 contains a thread sleeve 37. Each Bowden line 33 corresponds to two thread sleeves 37, which are respectively fitted onto the inlet and outlet sections of the Bowden line 33. The design of the thread sleeves 37 can reduce the friction force on the Bowden line 33.

[0055] Additionally, the steering shaft 34 is fitted with bearing limiters 38 and steering bearings 39. Two steering bearings 39 are provided, each corresponding to one of the two Bowden lines 33. Each Bowden line 33 wraps around its corresponding steering bearing 39. Three bearing limiters 38 are provided, alternating with the two steering bearings 39. The bearing limiters are used to fix the position of the steering bearings 39 and prevent them from axially moving on the steering shaft 34. The steering bearings 39 are used to reduce the frictional force on the Bowden lines 33.

[0056] This embodiment uses two remote motors to wind and release the input and output sections of the two Bowden lines 33, thereby changing the displacement and direction of the left and right drive rods 22 and 23. Specifically:

[0057] When the two remote motors synchronously and at the same speed wind up and release the input and output sections of the two Bowden lines 33, the two pull rods 32 experience the same forward traction force. At this time, the two pull rods 32 exert the same forward driving force on the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23. Under the transmission of the drive joint 21, the fingers change from an extended state to a bent state. Conversely, when the two remote motors synchronously and at the same speed release and wind up the input and output sections of the two Bowden lines 33, the two pull rods 32 experience the same backward traction force. At this time, the two pull rods 32 exert the same backward driving force on the left drive rod 22 and the right drive rod 23. Under the transmission of the drive joint 21, the fingers change from a bent state to an extended state. This achieves finger flexion and extension.

[0058] When the remote motor corresponding to the left Bowden line 33 winds in and releases the rope segment, while the remote motor corresponding to the right Bowden line 33 releases the rope segment and winds it in, the left pull rod 32 experiences a forward traction force, and the right pull rod 32 experiences a backward traction force. At this time, the left drive rod 22 experiences a forward driving force, the right drive rod 23 experiences a backward driving force, and the drive joint 21 experiences a rightward rotational force, causing the finger to swing to the right. Conversely, when the remote motor corresponding to the left Bowden line 33 releases the rope segment and winds it in, while the remote motor corresponding to the right Bowden line 33 winds in and releases the rope segment, the left pull rod 32 experiences a backward traction force, and the right pull rod 32 experiences a forward traction force. At this time, the left drive rod 22 experiences a backward driving force, the right drive rod 23 experiences a forward driving force, and the drive joint 21 experiences a leftward rotational force, causing the finger to swing to the left. This allows for the left and right lateral movement of a single finger, and through the combined movement of multiple fingers, it enables the unfolding and closing of multiple fingers.

[0059] Two remote motors simultaneously wind up and release the input and output sections of the Bowden line 33. When the length of the input section of the left Bowden line 33 is longer than that of the right Bowden line 33, both pull rods 32 experience forward traction, but the traction on the left pull rod 32 is greater than that on the right. At this time, the forward displacement of the left drive rod 22 is greater than that of the right drive rod 23. The drive joint 21 experiences both forward thrust and rightward rotational force, causing the fingers to bend and swing to the right. When the length of the input section of the left Bowden line 33 is shorter than that of the right Bowden line 33, both pull rods 32 experience forward traction, but the traction on the left pull rod 32 is less than that on the right. At this time, the forward displacement of the left drive rod 22 is less than that of the right drive rod 23. The drive joint 21 experiences both forward thrust and leftward rotational force, causing the fingers to bend and swing to the left.

[0060] Two remote motors simultaneously release the input and output sections of the Bowden line 33. When the length of the output section of the left Bowden line 33 is longer than the length of the right Bowden line 33, both levers 32 experience a backward traction force, but the traction force on the left lever 32 is greater than that on the right. At this time, the backward displacement of the left drive rod 22 is greater than that of the right drive rod 23. The drive joint 21 experiences a backward thrust and a leftward rotational force, causing the fingers to straighten and swing to the left. When the length of the output section of the left Bowden line 33 is shorter than that of the right Bowden line 33, both levers 32 experience a backward traction force, but the traction force on the left lever 32 is less than that on the right. At this time, the backward displacement of the left drive rod 22 is less than that of the right drive rod 23. The drive joint 21 experiences a backward thrust and a rightward rotational force, causing the fingers to bend and swing to the right. This enables a combined motion of single-strand flexion / extension and lateral swing.

[0061] Therefore, this embodiment achieves the adjustment of the displacement and direction of the left and right transmission rods 23 through the coordinated work of the remote motor, Bowden line 33, and pull rod 32. Since the remote motor is located away from the fingers, and both Bowden line 33 and pull rod 32 adopt a long strip structure and are set in the back of the hand area, the displacement direction of the left and right pull rods and transmission rods is along the length of the fingers. This eliminates the lateral displacement required for the extension and retraction movements of the joint self-aligning exoskeleton in the past, making the lateral envelope volume of the exoskeleton unit smaller than the distance between the fingers. The drive mechanism can avoid the interference of the drive between two adjacent exoskeleton units during the extension and retraction movements.

[0062] On the other hand, the present invention also provides a hand exoskeleton that actively drives the flexion, extension and retraction of the five fingers, including five finger exoskeleton units, each exoskeleton unit corresponding to one finger, and fixed on the hand according to the position of the corresponding finger. Each finger exoskeleton unit can drive the flexion, extension and / or retraction of the corresponding finger.

[0063] Among them, see Figure 5 In this embodiment, the fixing base 31 of the five finger exoskeleton units can be manufactured as a single piece, thus allowing it to be designed as follows: Figure 10 The ring-shaped design shown is fitted onto the hand for easy fixation. The end of the fixing base 31 furthest from the fingers remains flush, while the end closer to the metacarpophalangeal joint is adjusted according to the actual position of each finger's corresponding metacarpophalangeal joint. Since the metacarpophalangeal joints from the index finger to the little finger shift backward sequentially, the end face of the fixing base 31 on this side also has a gradually backward-aligned layout.

[0064] Furthermore, since each finger is equipped with an independent miniature exoskeleton unit, each finger can move independently. The structure of the exoskeleton unit itself allows for miniaturization, thus avoiding interference between adjacent fingers and ensuring the flexibility of each finger's movement.

[0065] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions created by the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can be made to the technical solutions created by the present invention without departing from the essence and scope of the technical solutions created by the present invention.

Claims

1. A finger exoskeleton unit, characterized by, The finger execution mechanism, the transmission mechanism and the driving mechanism, the driving mechanism can drive the finger execution mechanism to do pitch and / or roll movement through the transmission mechanism, so that the finger execution mechanism drives the single finger to do flexion and / or extension movement.

2. A finger exoskeleton unit according to claim 1, wherein The finger execution mechanism includes a finger sleeve and a linkage plate, the finger sleeve is sleeved on the single finger, and the linkage plate is connected with the finger sleeve and located at the back of the finger; the transmission mechanism includes a driving joint, a left transmission rod and a right transmission rod, the driving joint is installed on the linkage plate, the left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are arranged side by side, and the front ends of the left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are connected with the driving joint, and the rear ends of the left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are connected with the driving mechanism.

3. A finger exoskeleton unit according to claim 2, wherein The linkage plate is a long strip-shaped plate, one end of the linkage plate extends to the joint between the second phalanx and the distal phalanx, the other end extends to the metacarpophalangeal joint, and the width of the linkage plate is less than the finger width of the single finger.

4. A finger exoskeleton unit according to claim 3, wherein The driving joint includes a joint seat and a joint shaft, the joint seat is installed on one end of the linkage plate close to the metacarpophalangeal joint, and the joint shaft is installed on the joint seat in the direction of the finger width, the front end of the left transmission rod is movably connected with the left end of the joint shaft, and the front end of the right transmission rod is movably connected with the right end of the joint shaft.

5. The finger exoskeleton unit of claim 3, wherein The left transmission rod and the right transmission rod are both ball head rods.

6. The finger exoskeleton unit of claim 3, wherein The driving mechanism includes a fixed base, pull rods, Bowden wires and a steering shaft, the fixed base is arranged at the back of the hand, the pull rods are arranged side by side on the fixed base, the pull rods are slidably connected with the fixed base, the front end of the left pull rod is movably connected with the distal end of the left transmission rod, the front end of the right pull rod is movably connected with the distal end of the right transmission rod, the steering shaft is installed on one end of the fixed base close to the finger, each pull rod is correspondingly provided with a Bowden wire, one end of the Bowden wire extends away from the finger and can be wound or released, the other end of the Bowden wire is fixed at the distal end of the corresponding pull rod after passing through the steering shaft and also extends away from the finger and can be wound or released; when one end of the Bowden wire is wound, the other end is correspondingly released.

7. A finger exoskeleton unit according to claim 6, wherein One end of the fixed base away from the finger is provided with four wire holes, each wire hole is provided with a wire sleeve, and each Bowden wire is correspondingly provided with two wire sleeves, the two wire sleeves are arranged on the entering rope section and the exiting rope section of the Bowden wire.

8. A finger exoskeleton unit according to claim 6, wherein The steering shaft is provided with a bearing limiter and a steering bearing, the steering bearing is provided with two and corresponds to the two Bowden wires one by one, each Bowden wire is wound around the corresponding steering bearing, and the bearing limiter is provided with three and is alternately arranged with the two steering bearings to fix the position of the steering bearing.

9. The finger exoskeleton unit of claim 6, wherein Each pull rod is connected with the fixed base through a sliding pair.

10. A hand exoskeleton characterized by, The hand exoskeleton includes five finger exoskeleton units as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, each finger exoskeleton unit corresponds to a finger and is fixed on the hand according to the position of the corresponding finger, and each finger exoskeleton unit can drive the flexion and / or extension of the corresponding finger.

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