IIT

Actuator for robotic devices

Gearmotor mechanism with two alternatively selectable outputs for the movement of the fingers and for the opposition (abduction / adduction) of the thumb of a prosthetic hand consisting of a single power actuator and a miniaturized actuator for selection with a simplified control system.

Patent Status

PENDING

Priority Number

IT102019000016631/ WO2021053539A1

Priority Date

18/09/2019

License

INTERNATIONAL

Market

The advanced prosthetics was valued as $1.42 billion in FY 2018 and is forecasted to grow with a CAGR of 10.31% in the period of 2019-2024 and is estimated to be valued $2.55 billion in FY 2024.

Problem

Guaranteeing the patient who has lost the limb the possibility of recovering most of the functions of a hand, while at the same time using an immediately learning, highly effective and non-invasive human machine interface (HMI), is nowadays the strongest need. in the field of prostheses.

The technical problem consists in the realization of a complete hand prosthesis, which uses a single power motor to actuate both all the fingers in flexion / extension and the opposition (abduction / adduction) of the thumb, inside a hand shape. with anthropomorphic features and anthropometric dimensions. Everything has been created in order to maintain the high standards of compactness required, and at the same time guaranteeing the performance of a human hand with an activated thumb, silent in operation and irreversible with the engine off.

Current Technology Limits

At present there are no robotic actuation systems which allow to obtain from a single actuator two different outputs having different reduction ratios.

This solution can be applied to add a further degree of freedom to the thumb (ab-adduction) to the Hannes prosthetic hand (IT102018000005213) without altering and distorting as much as possible the original routing led to the definition of a new reduction system that had two shafts. selectable output.

Killer Application

Any application in which, due to space constraints (dimensions) and / or energy consumption and / or the need to displace more than one movement mechanism with respect to the real axis of rotation, a power actuator is required, as e.g. robotics. This invention allows to have two outputs possibly having different reduction using a single power actuator. By means of a secondary actuator (of much smaller dimensions than the one previously mentioned) it will therefore be possible to select which of the two outputs to actuate in a completely independent and selective manner.

Our Technology and Solution

Electric actuator typically for robotic and / or prosthetic applications able to offer a double output with different reduction ratio and, consequently, able to implement two different degrees of freedom in a completely selective and mutually exclusive way where required and / or necessary while keeping the overall dimensions almost unchanged compared to a gearmotor of equal performance which, however, is able to carry out only one output at a time.

In the context of the Hannes prosthetic hand (IT102018000005213), the need for this actuator / mechanism was fundamental to allow the implementation of two different joints (opening and closing of the hand and movement of the thumb) in a completely selective and mutually exclusive way while lying at the same time. dimensions of a gearmotor of equal performances.

Advantages

Use of a single power gearmotor, which usually represents the heaviest part of the systems, to obtain a gear train that offers two outputs with different reduction
Possibility of using a smaller size selection actuator than the one for moving the joint
Ability to remotely drive the joint of interest using flexible or other transmissions
The remote control of the motor, where there is greater availability of space, also allows the use of actuator cuts more suitable for the application which could instead be considered bulky and heavy to be used directly on the joint itself
Operation in both directions of rotation for both outputs
The use of the cyclo stage, being irreversible, allows to simplify the selection system, which otherwise would need three operating states (first shaft locking, second shaft locking, both shafts locking) instead of two.

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Team

Paolo Rossi

Mechanical engineer working as a technician in the Hannes team, in the Rehab Technologies Lab

Paolo Rossi is a mechanical engineer working as a technician in the Hannes team and he is responsible for assembling, repairing and adjustments of the prototypes of prosthetic hand, elbow and shoulder developed in the Rehab Technologies Lab. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 2009 at the University of Genoa, focusing his studies on the design of wind turbines. He acquired significant experience in the general maintenance of industrial facilities and machinery, before arriving in the Rehab Lab in 2017 as a technician, with the aim of assembling and supporting the mechanical improvements of the prostheses and exoskeletons' prototypes of the lab.

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Lorenzo De Michieli

Head of the Rehab Technology Lab at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), an Innovation Lab co-funded by INAIL

Lorenzo De Michieli is the Head of the Rehab Technology Lab at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), an Innovation Lab co-funded by INAIL to develop new prostheses, exoskeletons and rehabilitation devices of high market potential in the healthcare sector.He received a M.S. in Physics in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Humanoid Robotics) from the University of Genoa, Italy. He also accomplished an extensive training on innovation management both in Italy at Jacobacci & Partners (Turin, IT) and abroad at the European Patent Office (The Hague, NL) and the Bergen Teknologioverføring (Bergen, N). From 2014 to 2019 he was contract Professor at the University of Genoa - Faculty of Economics - in Collaborative Innovation and Technology Transfer. He is currently Board member of Movendo Technology, one of the most promising biomedical companies in Italy.

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Nicolò Boccardo

Senior Mechatronic Engineer and Team Leader for the Hannes prosthetic System at the Rehab Technologies Lab.

His expertise lies in the development of novel mechatronic systems in the robotics and prosthetic field. He received his Master’s Degree in Robotics Engineering at Polytechnic School of Engineering of Genoa in 2013 with thesis developed at CERN concerning the position control of the collimation system for the particle beam of the LHC. After a brief experience in the transportation industry at Bombardier, he was involved in the development of the Hannes prosthetic System at the Italian Institute of Technology form 2014. Since then, he is actively involved into product development activities for technology transfer. Currently, he is the Team Leader of the upper limb prosthetic systems at the Rehab Technologies Lab, with main focus on hi-tech medical devices.

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Samuel Stedman

Mechanical Engineer working for the Hannes group at Rehab Technologies Lab

He specializes in the design and simulation of robotic and mechatronic devices, however he also has strong interests in the field of product design and product development. He received his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and German at the University of Sheffield in 2015, whilst also studying for a year at TU Dresden. He worked for several years in the field of product management at BMW, before deciding to pursue his interest in robotics at IIT. Since joining in 2018 he has been responsible for the mechanical design, manufacture and testing of a 6 degree of freedom robotic arm and hand system for amputees. He is currently involved in several research and development activities at the Rehab Technologies Lab, focusing mainly on the development of mechanical systems for robotic prostheses and exoskeletons. In his spare time he regularly works on interesting and novel product ideas at the local Fablab, in addition to supporting a Red Crescent project that distributes 3D printed hand prostheses Syria.

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Michele Canepa

Senior Technician and Electronics Team Leader of the Rehab Technologies Lab.

His expertise lies in developing electrical and electronics system for medical robots. He received his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at University of Genoa in 2014. After a brief experience in developing embedded measurements devices for a consulting firm, he joined the Rehab Technologies Lab as a Junior Technician, developing electronics and firmware for the first release of the Hannes prosthetic hand and the electronics for Twin, a lower-limb exoskeleton. In 2017 he joined the Rehab Technologies spin-off company, Movendo Technology, as Lead Electrical Engineer in R&D area: he oversaw various R&D, Industrialization and cost-reduction projects on the award-winning rehabilitation machine Hunova. He is currently involved in research development activities at the Rehab Technologies Lab, focusing on the development of electronics systems for robotic prostheses and orthoses.

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Andrea Marinelli

PhD student of research and development activities of iHannes project at the Rehab Technologies Lab

Andrea Marinelli is Biomedical PhD student of the iHannes project at Rehab Technologies Lab and of the DIBRIS department at the University of Genova. His expertise lies in the development of software and firmware architecture in the prosthetic field and Human-machine interfaces to translate human intention into prosthetic action. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering at Università Politecnica delle Marche in 2016 and a Master’s Degree in Neuroengineering at the University of Genova in 2019. After a brief experience as a research fellow in the robotics field at the Italian Institute of Technology, in 2019, he is a PhD student at the same institute from 2020. Since then, he is actively involved into the iHannes project to develop upper limb prosthetics high-tech. During his Master's thesis and currently PhD, he spent 4 years developing Pattern Recognition control strategies to translate muscle contraction into prosthetic movements. Currently, he is the PhD student of research and development activities of iHannes project at the Rehab Technologies Lab, with focus on closed-loop control strategies on prosthetic hand to provide proprioceptive sensations on users.

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Lorenzo Lombardi

Junior Electronics Engineer at Rehabilitation Technology Department

Electronics Engineer from Italy.In 2012 he joined Imperial College of London where he obtained his Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with Electronics. In 2017, he joined the Rehabilitation Technology Department at the Italian Institute of Technology as a Junior Electronics Engineer. Here he is responsible for the development of the electronics and firmware of the prosthetic upper-limb system Hannes. The application focuses on sensors (EMGs and IMUs), battery management and motor control. He is also involved in the validation of the robotic devices developed within the department and clinical trials with patients.

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