Conclusion and Future Improvements

Our final prototype fulfilled the requirements that our client set forward and was fairly successful, given the resources provided to our team as well as the time constraints. In the future, we plan to make several improvements to our design, in part suggested by our client. First, we would like to manufacture our device with stronger and more tightly toleranced materials and processes, such as machining our components out of aluminum. This would significantly smooth the desired mechanical motion of the device components as well as add durability. The second is that the device will be much easier to don and doff, which is important for patients with limited hand functionality. One way of improving this is by adding a stopper that will hold the device in the fully unfurled position while the user inserts his/her hand. We would also like to add a graded assistance function to the device, where the user can select the level of assistance depending on his/her strength level. This could be done by different springs with varying resistances that can be replaced. Another key feature that we desire to implement is the ability to tolerate varying hand sizes, potentially via replaceable links with different lengths according to the size of each individual user’s fingers. This addition could also allow the device to work bilaterally (for both the left and right hand). Adding a dorsal hand strap (back of the hand) would provide support to the user and reduce unwanted movement as well.

We believe our device helps fill a missing area in physical therapy, and can vastly improve the quality of life of disabled people by rehabilitating necessary muscles that are often neglected. We hope to improve our device in the future to be viable for real patients to use.