The importance of hand is self-evident, tea pouring, code, handshake communication... We can't live without our hands! However, some patients with spinal cord injury or stroke are unable to use their hands flexibly to do small things, such as holding water cups. Even grabbing small things is very difficult for them.




To help these patients live independently, a wearable flexible glove called Exo-Glove Poly has been developed by Seoul National University's Flexible Robot Research Center to enable patients who have lost hand function to grasp various objects and restore hand function.






Exo-Glove Poly consists of wearable parts, driving units and buttons. It uses a tendon-driven device to drive the flexion and extension of the index and middle fingers. It also uses a passive thumb structure. It uses thermoplastic and silicone materials to fix the thumb in an outward position to help grasp objects. The driving units, motors, batteries, etc. are separated from the gloves and installed behind the wheelchair or on the table, which makes the gloves compact and portable.


At the same time, a button is placed in the armrest of the wheelchair to detect the user's intention intuitively. When the user wants to grab or release an object, pressing the button glove will drive the finger to flex and stretch.




_Exo-Glove Poly Wearing Method




This glove is made of silicone resin and has many characteristics: softness and flexibility enable it to adapt to different sizes of hands, comfortable and safe; waterproof makes it easy to use in wet environment such as bathroom and kitchen, while easy to clean and dry, easy to maintain.