Patent ID: 8255079

Claim:
A grasp assist device comprising: a first portion having fingers that is wearable on a hand of a human operator, wherein the first portion includes a plurality of phalange rings, including, for each finger, at least a medial and a distal phalange ring circumscribing a respective medial and distal phalange of the finger, and at least one sensor configured to measure a grasping force applied via the hand of the operator; a plurality of tendons each routed through a corresponding one of the medial phalange rings, and connected to a corresponding one of the distal phalange rings of a respective one of the fingers, and configured to apply an augmenting tensile force to the distal phalange ring of the respective finger in response to force feedback signals from the at least one sensor, wherein the force feedback signals encode the grasping force measured by the at least one sensor; and a second portion that includes: a tendon drive system (TDS) having a microcontroller; and a plurality of actuator assemblies each connected to a respective one of the tendons, and configured to apply the augmenting tensile force to the respective tendons; wherein the microcontroller is in communication with the plurality of actuator assemblies, and is configured to calculate the augmenting tensile force as a function of the measured grasping force and to command the calculated augmenting tensile force from the actuator assemblies of the TDS.