Authors: L. M. Roseiro, M. A. Castro, M. A. Neto, A. M. Amaro

Pathologies associated with muscle control and people's mobility are more and more frequent, particularly with regard to the lower and upper limbs, including hand motricity. This lack of control can prevent, or inhibit, the performance of various activities of daily living, for example, the need to open or close a door through traditional mechanical means. The present work describes the development of a device to help people with restrictions in terms of muscle control of the hand, particularly in the daily gesture of opening and closing a door. The device concept involved the sequential development of three prototypes that were developed using 3D modelling and 3D FDM printing with PLA. The final prototype of the device was evaluated by a group of volunteers, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, in order to estimate its functionality, as well as to detect aspects of future improvement. The main conclusion to be drawn, after analyzing the responses of the various respondents, The answers of the volunteers shows that the developed prototype can be considered as innovative and functional and can represent an important biomechanical aid in this context of application.

L. M. Roseiro^{1,2 |} M. A. Castro^{1,3 |} M. A. Neto^{1 |} A. M. Amaro¹
1CEMMPRE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Portugal
2 Coimbra Polytechnic – ISEC, Coimbra, Portugal
3 Coimbra Polytechnic – ESTeSC, Coimbra, Portugal