@article{Zhu2025, 
author = {Pengcheng Zhu and Mengjuan Niu and Siyang Liang and Weiqi Yang and Yitao Zhang and Ke Chen and Zhifeng Pan and Yanchao Mao},
title = {Non-hand-worn, load-free VR hand rehabilitation system assisted by deep learning based on ionic hydrogel},
year = {2025},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {18},
number = {4},
pages = {94907301},
keywords = {human-machine interfaces, virtual reality systems, electrophysiological monitoring, ionic hydrogels},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/NR.2025.94907301},
doi = {10.26599/NR.2025.94907301},
abstract = {Many individuals suffer from stroke, osteoarthritis, or accidental hand injuries, making hand rehabilitation greatly significant. The current hand rehabilitation therapy requires repetitive task-oriented hand exercises, relying on exoskeleton mechanical gloves integrated with different sensors and actuators. However, these conventional mechanical gloves require wearing heavy mechanical components that need weight-bearing and increase hand burden. Additionally, these devices are usually structurally complex, complicated to operate, and require specialized medical institutions. Here, a Virtual Reality (VR) hand rehabilitation system is developed by integrating deep-learning-assisted electromyography (EMG) recognition and VR human-machine interfaces (HMIs). By applying a wet-adhesive, self-healable, and conductive ionic hydrogel electrode array assisted by deep learning, the system can realize 14 Jebsen hand rehabilitation gestures recognition with an accuracy of 97.9%. The recognized gestures further communicate with the VR platform for real-time interaction in a virtual scenario to accomplish VR hand rehabilitation. Compared with present hand rehabilitation devices, the proposed system enables patients to perform immersive hand exercises in real-life scenarios without the need for hand-worn weights, and offers rehabilitation training without time and location limitations. This system could bring great breakthroughs for the development of a load-free hand rehabilitation system available in home-based therapy.}
}