An Ergonomic, Customizable Soft Robotic Glove toward Personalized Hand Rehabilitation

Abstract:Hand impairment following neurological disorders substantially limits independence in activities of daily living, motivating the development of effective assistive and rehabilitation strategies. Soft robotic gloves have attracted growing interest in this context, yet persistent challenges in customization, ergonomic fit, and user comfort constrain their clinical utility. Here, we present an ergonomic, customizable fabric-based soft robotic glove whose actuators can be tailored to individual finger-joint geometry. The glove comprises five dual-action actuators supporting finger flexion and extension, together with a dedicated thumb abduction actuator. Leveraging computer numerical control heat sealing technology, we fabricated symmetrical-chamber actuators that adopt a concave outer surface upon inflation, thereby increasing finger contact area and improving comfort. Characterization confirmed joint moment and grasping force sufficient for ADL-relevant tasks. In ten healthy subjects, active assistance significantly reduced forearm muscle activity during manipulation, and a pilot study in three individuals with cervical spinal cord injury showed more natural grasp patterns and reduced reliance on tenodesis grasp.

Robotics (cs.RO); Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)

arXiv:2604.00768 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2604.00768v2 [cs.RO] for this version)