Development of Cybernic Mirror System for Improvement of Hand Motor Functions for Patients with Hemiplegia

In the case of cybernics treatment, the wearer performs voluntary movements, in which the neuromuscular and central nervous systems work to produce the intended movement of the integrated wearable cyborg and the wearer’s body. In this way, the interactive Bio-Feedback (iBF) loop is established between the wearer and wearable cyborgs. Using wearable cyborg, motor function can be improvement. Cybernics treatment has been covered by medical insurance in Japan after a randomized controlled trial clinical evaluation. The cybernic mirror system is a wearable cyborg that performs intended bimanual symmetrical movements based on motor commands from the unaffected side. The cybernic mirror system has the potential to develop a new cybernics treatment specifically focused on improving finger functionality. The purpose of this study is to develop a cybernic mirror system for intention of bimanual symmetrical movements by transferring the hand motion of the unaffected hand to the affected hand and to confirm the feasibility of assisting finger motion by the developed system through basic experiments. The cybernic mirror system consisted of a hand motion assist unit and a hand motion control unit. The unaffected hand’s skeletal information was obtained by the hand motion control unit using the camera. The hand motion assist unit, using a tendon-driven structure, achieved motion assist for flexion and extension of the affected hand. At the basic experiments with three participants, the developed system performs within the acceptable delay time between both finger sides. In addition, the developed system enabled the performance of bimanual symmetrical movements for each of the five fingers individually. In conclusion, we confirmed the feasibility of assisting the finger motion by the developed system through basic experiments.