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Abstract
Purpose: (1) To assess a robotic device (Handexos) during the design process with regard to usability, end user satisfaction and safety, (2) to determine whether Handexos can improve the activities of daily living (ADLs) of spinal cord injury (SCI) patients and stroke patients with upper-limb dysfunction. Methods: During a 2-year development stage of the device, a total of 37 participants (aged 22–68), 28 clinicians (experts) and nine patients with SCI or stroke (end users) were included in a user-centered design process featuring usability tests. They performed five grasps wearing the device. The assessments were obtained at the end of the session by filling out a questionnaire and making suggestions. Results: The experts’ opinion was that the modified device was an improvement over the preliminary version, although this was not reflected in the scores. Whereas end user scores for comfort, grasp, performance and safety were above the sufficiency threshold, the scores for year 2 were lower than those for year 1. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that although Handexos meets the initial functional requirements and underlines the potential for assisting SCI and post-stroke subjects in ADLs, several aspects such as mechanical complexity and low adaptability to different hand sizes need to be further addressed.
Wearable robotics devices could improve the activities of daily living in patients with spinal cord injury or stroke.
They could be a tool for rehabilitation of the upper limb.
Further usability tests to improve this type of tools are recommended.
Implications for Rehabilitation
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all participants (end users and experts) for sharing their time, thoughts, and experience.
Declaration of interest
The authors do not have any financial or personal relationship with other persons or organizations that could inappropriately influence the work presented here. This work was supported in part by the European Union within the WAY Project (FP7/2007-2013, grant agreement 288551); by the Regione Toscana within the EARLYREHAB Project (Health Regional Research Programme 2009); by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development within the AMULOS Project (contract MI01_00319).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.