Preliminary Findings of Feasibility of a Wearable Soft-robotic Glove Supporting Impaired Hand Function in Daily Life

Elderly people frequently encounter difficulties in independently performing activities of daily living (ADL) due to a reduced hand function. Robotic assistive devices have the potential to provide the assistance that is necessary to perform ADL independently without the need of personal assistance. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to explore feasibility of a wearable soft-robotic glove (ironHand (iH) system) that can support hand function of elderly people in daily life. Thirty elderly people (>56 years) with a reduced hand function resulting in difficulties in performing ADL were recruited to perform six functional tasks three times with and without the iH system. Evaluation measurements consisted of functional tasks performance times and user-acceptance of the iH system, measured by the System Usability Scale (SUS). Participants improved their functional task performance after multiple attempts either with and without the glove, but performed significantly faster without the glove (p≤0.032). Besides, the mean of the SUS score for the iH system was 70.1%. Although this indicates a good probability for acceptance in the field, several design adaptations are necessary to have a user-friendly and accepted assistive device.