US 5,429,140 · Granted 1995-07-04
The Virtual Reality Glove That Teaches Injured Hands to Grip Again
Imagine a smart glove that lets you practice squeezing and gripping things that don't actually exist—but you can *feel* them pushing back. Doctors use this system to help patients recovering from hand injuries regain strength and control by having them interact with virtual objects in a computer-generated world.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers an integrated system where a sensing glove measures how hard a patient can squeeze, a computer processes that data and generates control signals, and a force feedback glove then resists the patient's hand movements to simulate the feel of virtual objects. What's protected here is the complete feedback loop: measuring hand capability, computing appropriate resistance, and delivering tactile resistance back through the glove to create the illusion of grasping something real.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early intersection of virtual reality and medical rehabilitation. By combining force feedback with computer-generated environments, it enabled doctors to precisely measure and gradually improve a patient's hand strength and dexterity in a controlled, repeatable way. The system can adapt resistance based on the patient's actual performance, making therapy more personalized than traditional methods. Though designed for hands, the concept extends to other joints and limbs, creating a broader platform for physical recovery.
Real-world use
A stroke survivor wearing the force feedback glove practices opening and closing their hand around virtual objects while the system records their progress and automatically adjusts resistance to match their improving strength.
Original USPTO abstract
A rehabilitation system employs a force feedback system, such as a force feedback glove, to simulate virtual deformable objects. Prior to rehabilitation, the patient places his or her hand in a sensing glove which measures the force exertable by the patient's digits. Information from the sensing glove is received by an interface and transmitted to a computer where the information can be used to diagnose the patient's manual capability. The computer generates rehabilitation control signals for a force feedback glove. The patient places his or her hand in the force feedback glove and attempts to bring the digits together as though grasping the virtual object. The force feedback glove resists the squeezing movement of the digits in a manner that simulates the tactile feel of the virtual object. The force exerted by the fingers of the patient is fed back to the computer control system where it can be recorded and/or used to modify future rehabilitation control signals. The basic concept of rehabilitation in virtual environment with force feedback can also be applied to other appendages of the human body including arms, legs, neck, knees, elbows and other articulated joints.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,429,140
- Filing date
- 1993-06-04
- Grant date
- 1995-07-04
- Assignee
- Greenleaf Medical Systems, Inc. / Grigore C. Burdea / Noshir Langrana
- Inventor(s)
- BURDEA; GRIGORE C., LANGRANA; NOSHIR A.
- CPC class
- A63B21/00181
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