UTC faculty member and students design wearable hand rehabilitation system
The device won the Jury Special/Best Design Award over 46 other competitors at an international competition last year in Turkey.
The latest issue of Our Tennessee, the magazine of the University of Tennessee (UT) System, spotlighted the work of a faculty member and students at UT at Chattanooga (UTC) who have designed a wearable hand rehabilitation system.
The article, which can be found here, describes the award-winning device through the eyes of Juan Pena, a native of Spring Hill, TN, and recent UTC graduate who spent two years in the mechatronics program working on the project design.
The initial work began soon after Erkan Kaplanoglu, who joined the UTC faculty in 2019, saw some of the needs in the physical therapy department and decided to develop a solution. Thus began his work on the hand rehabilitation system with the help of undergraduate researchers, which soon included Pena. Kaplanoglu is now Director of the Biomechatronic and Assistive Technology Lab, Associate Professor of Mechatronics, and interim department head of the UTC Engineering Management and Technology Department.
As described in the article, the wearable system works like this: a sensor glove goes on the individual’s nonaffected hand. Strips of sensors attach to each finger, allowing the glove to detect movement. A motor glove then goes on the affected hand and is attached to a pneumatic actuator, which converts the energy of compressed air into mechanical motion, allowing the injured hand to mimic motions by the uninjured hand.
Pena presented the device at the 15th International MoNE Robot Competition in Turkey in September 2023, where he helped the UTC robotics team win its first international award. The hand rehabilitation system won the Jury Special/Best Design Award over 46 other competitors.
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