Recent technological advances have opened valuable possibilities for supporting people with motor impairments or who are recovering from injuries to the brain, spinal cord or nerves. Millions of people worldwide currently experience difficulty moving their hands or other parts of their body. Some of these motor impairments are associated with progressive neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), while others are the result of neurological damage caused by an injury or a stroke.
Researchers at Technical University of Munich and the Center for Rehabilitation Passauer Wolf recently developed a new lightweight, soft exoskeleton that could allow people with severe motor impairments to move their hands again and grasp objects. The new robotic system, introduced in a paper published in Nature Machine Intelligence, combines an advanced mechanical design with muscle-sensing technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
“This recent paper discusses restoring hand function for individuals with severe hand impairment,” Gordon Cheng, who led the study, told Tech Xplore. “Hand functions are critical to every aspect of life. The patient we were working with has near-complete hand function loss, and our work aims to help people with such needs.”








