Tendo - For people, not symptoms
(2018) In Diploma work IDEM05 20182Industrial Design
- Abstract
- When looking at medical device and rehabilitation
tools of today’s market, most of them are limited to
one specific action or situation. When being sick
and suffering from e.g. rheumatism or are in need
of rehabilitation after a stroke, one easily gets limited to the home environment. If the subject need
to leave the house, an insecurity could occur when
being put into situations that the rest of us take for
granted. The action of carrying a bag home or gripping the fork on a restaurant could be challenging
or even impossible without special helping tools.
The goal of this master’s thesis have been to limit
these problem areas and to adapt the subject to
the world instead of adapting everything around him
or her,... (More) - When looking at medical device and rehabilitation
tools of today’s market, most of them are limited to
one specific action or situation. When being sick
and suffering from e.g. rheumatism or are in need
of rehabilitation after a stroke, one easily gets limited to the home environment. If the subject need
to leave the house, an insecurity could occur when
being put into situations that the rest of us take for
granted. The action of carrying a bag home or gripping the fork on a restaurant could be challenging
or even impossible without special helping tools.
The goal of this master’s thesis have been to limit
these problem areas and to adapt the subject to
the world instead of adapting everything around him
or her, something that otherwise might result in independence. It’s for people, not symptoms.
People with reduced strength in their hands can
use technical aid that either support the user by
giving more strength or provide resistance to help
exercise the muscles in the hand. The available
products on the market either offer support, i.e. artificial strength, or they offer resistance, i.e. exercise of the muscles. The combination of the support and resistance is very rarely seen combined in one
product, if all.
A person that suffer from rheumatism and uses a
technical aid will see their own muscles diminish, as
they get more and more dependent on the artificial
strength. A device that offers resistance in combination with support will help the user to maintain the muscle strength by providing support only when needed.
The solution, Tendo, consists of a slim hand exoskeleton. Artificial muscles connect to joints on the
fingers, which give the user free palm and fingertips.
The tendons/muscles are attached at the tip of the
fingers to make sure that a long and strong leaver
arm is created. EMG electrodes are connected to
the exoskeleton to measure the users own muscles
contractions. The artificial muscles and EMG electrodes are connected to a microcontroller attached on the inside of the arm. The device is constructed to provide both support and resistance to the user.
During the first phase of the project there was a
strong focus on studies and as well as the research
regarding potential components and to actual build
a functional prototype. The work has been influenced by not only industrial design but also technology and a hope of build a working prototype. The project is based on a previous one, which
minimizes the research phase slightly. Instead, it’s
more focus on the design, the user, acceptability of
a product and prototyping. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8959729
- author
- Woge, Sofie
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- IDEM05 20182
- year
- 2018
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- publication/series
- Diploma work
- report number
- ISRN: LUT-DVIDE/ EX--16/50324—SE
- other publication id
- ISRN
- language
- English
- id
- 8959729
- date added to LUP
- 2019-04-11 13:22:08
- date last changed
- 2019-04-11 13:22:08
@misc{8959729,
abstract = {{When looking at medical device and rehabilitation
tools of today’s market, most of them are limited to
one specific action or situation. When being sick
and suffering from e.g. rheumatism or are in need
of rehabilitation after a stroke, one easily gets limited to the home environment. If the subject need
to leave the house, an insecurity could occur when
being put into situations that the rest of us take for
granted. The action of carrying a bag home or gripping the fork on a restaurant could be challenging
or even impossible without special helping tools.
The goal of this master’s thesis have been to limit
these problem areas and to adapt the subject to
the world instead of adapting everything around him
or her, something that otherwise might result in independence. It’s for people, not symptoms.
People with reduced strength in their hands can
use technical aid that either support the user by
giving more strength or provide resistance to help
exercise the muscles in the hand. The available
products on the market either offer support, i.e. artificial strength, or they offer resistance, i.e. exercise of the muscles. The combination of the support and resistance is very rarely seen combined in one
product, if all.
A person that suffer from rheumatism and uses a
technical aid will see their own muscles diminish, as
they get more and more dependent on the artificial
strength. A device that offers resistance in combination with support will help the user to maintain the muscle strength by providing support only when needed.
The solution, Tendo, consists of a slim hand exoskeleton. Artificial muscles connect to joints on the
fingers, which give the user free palm and fingertips.
The tendons/muscles are attached at the tip of the
fingers to make sure that a long and strong leaver
arm is created. EMG electrodes are connected to
the exoskeleton to measure the users own muscles
contractions. The artificial muscles and EMG electrodes are connected to a microcontroller attached on the inside of the arm. The device is constructed to provide both support and resistance to the user.
During the first phase of the project there was a
strong focus on studies and as well as the research
regarding potential components and to actual build
a functional prototype. The work has been influenced by not only industrial design but also technology and a hope of build a working prototype. The project is based on a previous one, which
minimizes the research phase slightly. Instead, it’s
more focus on the design, the user, acceptability of
a product and prototyping.}},
author = {{Woge, Sofie}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Diploma work}},
title = {{Tendo - For people, not symptoms}},
year = {{2018}},
}