Prototype Splint

As a support for the pulley, a frame able to slide along the rod was considered, in order to make its position easily adjustable for patients with different hand sizes. 

The actuators were made of a silicone elastomer and were fabricated with the same materials and procedure described in [14]. 

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A plastic prototype splint developed according to the above design is shown in Figure 24.9. This prototype had a total weight (not optimized, of course) of 530 g. 

Figure 24.11 Force-voltage plots recorded from the prototype splint for different ampiitudes of actuator lengthening.

Paterson, A. M. J., Bibb, R. J. and Campbell, R. I., 2010. A review of existing anatomical data capture methods to support the mass customisation of wrist splints. Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 5(4), 201-7. 

Figure 24.9 Prototype dynamic hand splint equipped with silicone folded actuators, high voltage electronics and load cell.

A new version of the hand splint is currently being developed in order to obtain a prototype compatible with the environment of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRl). An MRI-compatible hand splint could be used to perform rehabilitation exercises within an MRl scanner, so as to allow functional evaluations of the rehabilitation efficacy. 

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