Throughout the project, the team worked closely with the customer to ensure that the assistive rope gripping device would meet the customer's requirements. The ultimate test of our prototype occured when we invited the customer to try the product for himself. Securing the prototype to the customer's hand was a straightforward process that took less than one minute. The customer commented that he would feel capable of fitting the gripping device to his hand with the inclusion of metal rings to aid with strapping the Velcro. The customer's thumb mobility was more limited than anticipated, but the Hall effect sensor used to close and open the mechanism proved to be operable nonetheless. Images of the fitting process and customer first impressions are shown in the photo gallery below.

Photo Gallery of Product Demonstration

Assisted Rope Gripper Demonstration

Two important objectives of the project were to enable the customer to grab a rope with minimal effort and to provide substantial gripping force on the order of 50 lbs. In order to demonstrate the prototype's ability to meet these objectives, the team requested that the customer engage a rope and pull against a team member equipped with the first prototype design. This demonstration is shown in Video 1. The video demonstrates that the assistive gripping mechanism can be used to easily grab a rope and secure it against considerable forces.

Video of Gripper in Use by Customer

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