US 11,865,017 B2
Finger motion assist apparatus
Hyung-Soon Park, Daejeon (KR); and Dong Hyun Kim, Daejeon (KR)
Assigned to Korea Advanced Institute of Science And Technology, Daejeon (KR)
Appl. No. 17/254,465
Filed by KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Daejeon (KR)
PCT Filed Dec. 18, 2020, PCT No. PCT/KR2020/018724
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 21, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/131412, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 23, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2022/0401232 A1, Dec. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. A61F 2/58 (2006.01); A61H 1/02 (2006.01); B25J 15/00 (2006.01); A61F 2/50 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 2/586 (2013.01) [A61H 1/0288 (2013.01); B25J 15/0009 (2013.01); A61F 2002/5093 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for assisting a finger motion, the apparatus comprising:
a palm support installable to surround a part of a hand-back and a wrist;
an extension assist unit securable at a first side thereof to a middle phalanx region of a finger and connected at a second side thereof to the palm support to assist extension of the finger through an elastic force between both ends; and
a flexion assist unit comprising a distal phalange support mountable on an end of the finger, and a first flexion wire and a second flexion wire mountable on a part of the finger and assisting flexion of the finger on the basis of a tensile force provided to the flexion wires;
wherein the extension assist unit further comprises a first extension elastic member connected at a first end thereof to an outside part of the distal phalange support and connected at a second end thereof to a part of the palm support coming into contact with the hand-back; and
wherein the second flexion wire is formed such that a first end thereof is secured to a part of the first extension elastic member passing through an outside of the middle phalanx region of the finger, and a second end thereof is configured to surround a circumference of the proximal phalange region of the finger obliquely inwards and then passes through a part of the palm support coming into contact with the palm.