With the increase in number of people who unfortunately lose their limbs each year, doctors, engineers, and researchers continue to work on developing new ideas and technologies to help solve the problem in a cost-effective manner.
Recently, a group of researchers from Purdue University have recently developed what they call an "e-glove", as in an electronic glove, which incorporates the use of sensors to measure physical parameters such as pressure, temperature, and hydration. As they describe in a report in NPG Asia Materials, the readings are then transmitted by electronic chips to a wristwatch, specially designed for the e-glove. This wristwatch will display real-time readings to be processed later on.
The e-glove looks is simply a regular surgical glove that is redesigned to be worn over a prosthetic hand. The thin flexible sensors and silicone-based circuit chips are embedded in the nitrile glove so that it can fit the hand effortlessly, as explained by researcher and Purdue's College of Engineering assistant professor Chi Hwan Lee. "We developed a novel concept of the soft-packaged, sensor-instrumented e-glove built on a commercial nitrile glove, allowing it to seamlessly fit on arbitrary hand shapes," he said. "The e-glove is configured with a stretchable form of multimodal sensors to collect various information such as pressure, temperature, humidity and electrophysiological biosignals, while simultaneously providing realistic human hand-like softness, appearance and even warmth."
Aside from the sensors and circuit chips, other components like the silver ink-based thermal resistors were also printed before coating with silicone polymer and building them into the glove.
To test the device, the researchers demonstrated its use in touching and sensing everyday materials, like a hot cup of water or a damp diaper. As they tested its effectiveness to monitor pressure, temperature, and moisture, they also monitored the heart rate of the user and the amount of force the user exerted.
Along with Lee, researcher and engineering doctoral student at Purdue University, Min Ku Kim, began to patent the technology with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. In the future, the team plans to conduct clinical trials or maybe consult with experts in the field to optimize the design of the e-glove.
At a larger scale, the researchers believe that the e-glove can be mass produced at an affordable price. This would mean a more affordable solution to the problem of amputees.
