The assignments for this year’s Mechatronics project which we could choose were very different. We choose the finger rehabilitation robot for multiple reasons. But mainly we liked the fact that the robot actually has a real purpose: Provide a way for older people to exercise their fingers in a fun and motivated way…

The concept of the Piano robot is as follows. One can train the finger coordination of the left or right hand by pressing the indicated finger over an angle of 15 degrees. Of course the natural movement of fingers and thumbs is different. We provided a way to move the fingers vertically and move the thumbs horizontally.

The ‘level’ for a series of exercises can be chosen too. An exercise on a higher level requires more force from the fingers. Because the angle is only 15 degrees, we chose to use compression springs. The pretension of these springs is then adjusted by moving the rail where the springs are attached too.

The motivational part of the robot is provided by an LCD screen and some potentiometers to make some settings. The user can choose how many exercises will be done, the level and indicate which hand will be used.

TThe next tab’s provide some more technical details.