PFI-TT: Actuated Gloves for use in Assisted Training and Rehabilitation Programs

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to create gloves that passively teach users new manual skills, such as learning to type Braille or playing piano, and aid in rehabilitation after traumatic injuries, such as stroke or partial spinal cord injury. Learning manual tasks and rehabilitation are time consuming, and learning/rehabilitation programs can have less than a 5% adherence rate.

Passive Tactile Learning (PTL) gloves significantly accelerate skill learning and rehabilitation by stimulating the user’s fingers throughout the day to teach the “muscle memory” of tasks without the user’s attention. For some critical skills, this accelerated learning may be the difference between independence and reliance on others. In rehabilitation, motivation is a prime factor.

Many traditional therapies involve monotonous exercises and are quickly abandoned, but playing piano can improve dexterity as well as mental well-being. PTL gloves both directly improve hand sensation and dexterity and inspire users to continue rehabilitation.

The proposed project designs PTL glove hardware and support software to integrate passive learning into longer-term manual skill training and rehabilitation. One objective is making PTL gloves that are comfortable, are maintainable by users or caregivers, have low encumbrance, are easy to don/doff, have sufficient battery life for 2.5-3 hours of use per session, and are sufficiently fashionable that users will wear them.

A second objective is creating self-service web portals such that users can download new study or rehabilitation programs and track their progress. Thirdly, the project seeks to establish appropriate “gold standard” (controlled, randomized) procedures for testing over weeks or months that can be generalized for manual skill learning (Braille, piano, etc.) and rehabilitation.

These procedures will be optimized using metrics such as users’ adherence to these programs, speed of improvement compared to control (for example, accuracy, speed, sensation, or spasticity depending on the task), users’ perception of workload, and users’ preferences. Anticipated results include a generalized procedure for a given task (e.g., piano, Braille typing) or condition (e.g., stroke), hardware prototypes and support infrastructure sufficient for longer-term testing, and published results for tasks addressed by this research.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.