Meet the new version of the award-winning Ironhand 2.0 exoskeleton glove
Medtech company Bioservo Technologies is releasing an updated version of the groundbreaking exoskeleton glove – Ironhand® 2.0, complete with improved activation, better grip, advanced data collection and much more in order to reduce the occurrence of hand-related repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) in industry workplaces.
Ironhand® is the world’s first active soft exoskeleton for the hand, and the grip-strengthening glove won the NASA Commercial Invention of the Year Award in July 2020. It mimics the grasp movements of the user’s hands, providing extra strength and endurance to the grip, thus helping to conserve the worker’s energy and reduce the risk of RSIs and other musculoskeletal disorders. Ironhand has since been trialled by workers in manufacturing, industry and other industries prone to repetitive strain injuries, showing promising results.
To further develop their invention, Bioservo is releasing a new and improved version of the grip-strengthening glove on June 7, 2021. At the same time they will launch the highly useful application IronConnect Pro. The app collects useful information from the glove when it is in use and summarizes the data into ergonomic risk assessment reports in order to track risk of injury and prevent it.
Improving quality of life for workers in danger of RSI and MSD
Bioservo Technologies developed the powerful exoskeleton glove as a preventative measure against industry and manufacturing related injuries, to aid ergonomists and employees performing repetitive manual tasks.
It is already too late when an RSI has occurred – it is often difficult to regain full usage of the impaired hand, requiring extended sick-leave and often expensive physiotherapy treatments. Ironhand 2.0 enables you to prevent the injury beforehand by helping the operator perform repetitive and injury-inducing tasks while providing you with ergonomic data to help assess the risk of injury in advance.
The best ergonomist is the one practicing preventative measures to eliminate the need for physiotherapy and reducing or completely eradicating RSIs and other workplace injuries.
Ironhand 2.0 – Keeping people strong, healthy and efficient
The Ironhand system is a smart active exoskeleton, meaning that the glove is activated when the operator starts moving their hand to perform a task, using sensors located on the palm and in the fingers’ tips and middle phalanges.
To further improve the glove’s functionality through machine learning, the glove learns from the user and after a while it can finish a movement or grip at just the slightest flick of the user’s fingers – having learned how the operator moves their hand before and during a certain task. As the system is connected to the internet through 4G or Wi-Fi, it continuously sends collected data that can be analysed.
Bioserve has opened up using Ironhand in many more applications and work tasks by adding and improving sensors, increasing the speed, and creating a more natural force transfer making it easier to activate when performing a diverse set of movements. In addition to this we have improved the user experience and comfort with carry solutions that are much easier to put on and adjust for an optimal fit. These are just a few of the upgrades added to Ironhand 2.0.
Optimized installation and usage through IronConnect Pro
The data collected by the glove when in use is sent to the cloud. The data is used by IronConnect Pro, a sophisticated application designed to oversee the usage of the exo-glove and maximize benefit through the optimization of the glove’s settings and data.
IronConnect Pro can be used with both iOS and Android and is set to be released on June 7, 2021 together with Ironhand 2.0. With the application you can see what glove is in use and where, what operator is using it, what grips it is performing and much more.
Additionally, the app analyses the data in order to create Ergonomic Risk Assessment reports . This way, you can see if the operator is in danger of an RSI before it happens – enabling you to take action and prevent the injury before it occurs.
