Sensor-instrumented e-glove improves prosthetic hand performance

Designed to be worn over a conventional prosthetic hand, the so-called e-glove, which was developed by a team at Purdue University in Indiana, uses sensors to measure factors such as pressure, temperature, and hydration and then uses electronic chips to send this data to a specially developed wristwatch.

The e-glove uses thin, flexible electronic sensors and miniaturised silicon-based circuit chips and is connected to a specially designed wristwatch, allowing for real-time display of sensory data and remote transmission to the user for post-data processing.

Chi Hwan Lee, an assistant professor in Purdue's College of Engineering who worked on the development of the technology said:  "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. 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."