Robotic Hand Orthosis Providing Grasp Assistance for Patients With Brachial Plexus Injuries

The proposed research, the development of an innovative robotic hand orthosis with intelligent grasping control, is relevant to public health as it will restore a large measure of functionality to the paralyzed hand of a person who has suffered a brachial plexus injury. The proposed orthosis will utilize novel technology that will result in a device that is compact, portable, dexterous, and intuitively controllable while overcoming the disadvantages of previously developed orthoses that rendered them difficult to use. The restoration of functionality to ones hands will significantly improve their quality of life as well as their ability to again participate in the workforce and complete dexterous activities in their daily lives.

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Key information

Conditions

Brachial Plexus Injury

Age range

18 year–69 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Carilion Clinic Institute for Orthopaedics and Neurosciences

Roanoke, Virginia, 24014, United States

About this study

The overall objective of this research is to design, fabricate, integrate, and test a lightweight and portable robotic hand orthosis intended to restore hand functionality through fully controllable individual finger actuation. This objective is based on the hypothesis that use of such a robotic hand orthosis will result in significant improvement of hand ability for adults with brachial plexus injury, as evaluated through the Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP).

To achieve this, several novel design aspects are incorporated. The use of miniature linear actuators and lightweight materials allows for the motors and sensors to all mount atop the dorsum of the hand, and eliminate the need for bulky external actuation units. In addition, the actuators have inbuilt force sensing capabilities to provide feedback on the force being applied to each individual finger, even before contact is made with a grasped object. Furthermore, wrist flexion/extension is powered, resulting in a more realistic grasping paradigm than is commonly found in robotic orthoses. Moreover, an intuitive control system will be designed in order to fully capitalize on the controllability of each finger, allowing for varied grasp geometries and motions.

A summary of the specific aims of this study are:

Design and prototype the robotic hand orthosis with the goal of creating a uniquely dexterous, lightweight and portable device. In addition, the control methodologies required to exploit the full capabilities of the orthosis will be designed. This will result in the development of an experimental research platform to determine the viability of the design and hypothesis.

Perform a feasibility trial of the robotic orthosis device by providing it to a small cohort of adult patients suffering from paralysis due to a brachial plexus injury. The patients will be assessed via the SHAP, and their respective scores both with and without the orthosis will be evaluated to determine their level of improvement in dexterity and function.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Brachial plexus injury to the right upper extremity
18 - 69 y/o with pan plexus injuries
Lower root injuries (C7, C8, T1)

Exclusion criteria

No significant hand/wrist contractures or associated deformities which would affect participation
No open wounds in affected hand or wrist
Able to provide consent for treatment and follow general directions
Only right-hand involved individuals will be considered, as the orthosis prototypes will be designed for right hand use only at this stage of the research

Treatment and study plan

Exoskeleton glove

Device

A robotic hand orthosis (exoskeleton glove) will have been developed that is able to naturalistically bend the finger joints of the individuals based on intuitive voice commands

Primary outcomes

Number of Successful Grasp Trials Per Participant Using Robotic Hand Orthosis

Time frame: The total expected time for the study is about 2 hours.

Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP) Construct Measured: Functional hand performance based on prehensile and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) tasks.

Structure: 6 Abstract Object Tasks (grip patterns). The five most used grasp types in ADLs were selected for the experiments, which include cylinder grasp, sphere grasp, tip grasp, tripod grasp, and lateral grasp. We selected ten objects that belong to different grasp types for the experiments. Each object was grasped for five times by each participant.

Scoring: Successful vs unsuccessful grasps with 10 different objects Interpretation: Successful grasps with 10 different objects

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Carilion Clinic

Other

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2021
Primary completion: 2022
Study completion: 2023
First posted: Jun 25, 2021
Registry last updated: Oct 20, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed