Design of an Wearable MRI-Compatible Hand Exoskeleton Robot

This paper proposes an wearable MRI-compatible hand exoskeleton robot that supports a subject moving his fingers voluntarily or involuntarily in high electromagnetic field. The hand robot consists of four exoskeletal fingers excluding a thumb, which is fabricated with nonmagnetic materials through 3D printing. In order to work in an MRI environment, pneumatic actuators are applied to drive the joints of the wearable robot. Potentiometers are installed in the MP and PIP joints of four fingers to measure the angles of finger's motions. Basic performances of the robot are evaluated by flexion rang of fingers, time delay and fingertip force. In the future, the compatibility of robot in MRI environment will be confirmed through measurement experiments of a subject's brain activity.