US 2026/0157655 A1 · HAND THERAPY DEVICE

Abstract

A finger sensor stage assembly connected to a finger cup and detecting motion in at least two degrees of freedom caused by forces generated by a finger includes a first stage block coupled to the finger cup; a second stage block; at least one first flexure connected to the first and second stage blocks and restricting relative movement of the first and second stage blocks to a first degree of freedom; a third stage block; at least one second flexure connected to the second and third stage blocks and restricting relative movement of the second and third stage blocks to a second degree of freedom different from the first; and one or more non-contact position sensors to detect relative movement of the first and second stage blocks in the first degree of freedom and relative movement of the second and third stage blocks in the second degree of freedom.

Claims34

Dependent claims

A finger sensor stage assembly connected to a finger cup configured to receive at least a portion of a finger, the finger sensor stage assembly being configured to detect motion in at least two degrees of freedom caused by forces generated by the finger on the finger cup, the finger sensor stage assembly comprising:

a first stage block coupled to the finger cup;
a second stage block;
at least one first flexure connected to the first stage block and to the second stage block and restricting relative movement of the first stage block and the second stage block to a first degree of freedom;
a third stage block;
at least one second flexure connected to the second stage block and to the third stage block and restricting relative movement of the second stage block and the third stage block to a second degree of freedom different from the first degree of freedom;
and
one or more non-contact position sensors configured to detect the relative movement of the first stage block and the second stage block in the first degree of freedom and the relative movement of the second stage block and the third stage block in the second degree of freedom.

4 more elements

A method of operating a hand therapy device, the hand therapy device including a microcontroller unit and a hand module assembly that includes a housing and five finger sensor assemblies arranged at least partially within the housing, each of the finger sensor assemblies including a finger cup configured to receive at least a portion of a finger and a finger sensor stage assembly connected to the finger cup and including one or more non-contact position sensors configured to detect motion in at least two degrees of freedom caused by forces generated by the finger on the finger cup, the method comprising:

adjusting a position of at least one of the finger sensor assemblies relative to the other finger sensor assemblies to establish a neutral rest position for a hand of a user to be received by the hand module assembly;
recording the positions of the finger sensor assemblies after establishing the neutral rest position for the hand of the user;
receiving, by the finger cups of the finger sensor assemblies, corresponding fingers of the hand of the user;
and
obtaining, by the microcontroller unit, data from the one or more non-contact position sensors of at least one of the finger stage assemblies, the data representing movement of the respective at least one finger stage assembly caused by forces generated by the respective finger.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Hand therapy device

Life of this patent

Hand therapy device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims34