Index

The Project

In partnership with Montecatone Clinic, the ReMovAble Project aims to support people with spinal cord injuries. We are developing an innovative glove designed to restore hand mobility and improve the everyday lives of quadriplegic patients.

More than just a technological innovation, this project is about people. A passionate team of students and researchers drives ReMovAble, motivated by volunteerism and collaboration. Their dedication shows how engineering can change lives and the real impact that collective research can have on society.

The Challenges

The ReMovAble Project faces several significant challenges on its path to restoring hand mobility for quadriplegic patients. Each of these challenges represents a critical step in turning an innovative concept into a practical, life-changing device:

  • Practical Design: The glove must be comfortable, lightweight, and easy to wear, while allowing natural hand movements. Designing a wearable device that patients can use daily without fatigue or discomfort is a major engineering challenge.

  • Human-Machine Interface: Translating the user’s intentions into precise hand movements requires an intuitive and seamless interface. The system must interpret subtle signals accurately, enabling smooth control without cognitive overload for the user.

  • Sensing and Feedback: Accurate sensing and real-time feedback are crucial for safe and effective operation. Developing a system that reliably detects the user’s inputs, monitors hand position, and provides responsive actuation ensures the glove behaves predictably and helps the user regain functional movement.

Successfully addressing these challenges is essential to creating a device that is not only technologically advanced, but also practical, reliable, and empowering for those who need it most.

Contribution

A crucial part of the ReMovAble Project has been enabling the glove to accurately sense and respond to user intentions. One of the most demanding challenges was measuring the resistance of the actuation cable reliably. The task was far from straightforward: the signals were extremely small, susceptible to electrical noise and environmental interference, and needed to be captured in real-time to allow smooth hand movements.

To overcome this, a dedicated electronic circuit was developed and iteratively refined. Multiple designs were tested to find the optimal balance between sensitivity and stability, ensuring that even the tiniest variations in resistance could be detected consistently and accurately.

But capturing the data was only half the challenge. The raw resistance readings had to be interpreted and translated into actionable commands for the actuators. This required careful signal processing, calibration, and continuous testing, tuning the system so that every detected variation corresponded precisely to the intended hand movement.

Through this iterative process, a robust sensing-actuation interface emerged, capable of delivering smooth, reliable, and safe responses to user input. This work not only solved a complex technical problem but also laid the foundation for a glove that can become a functional assistive device, capable of improving the daily lives of quadriplegic patients.

Authorship, Contributions, and Acknowledgements

The ReMovAble Project is a multidisciplinary initiative focused on developing an assistive wearable device to support hand mobility in individuals with spinal cord injuries. The work described in this article reflects the collaborative efforts of students, researchers, each contributing complementary expertise.

Authors and Individual Contributions

  • Gregorio Pisaneschi : Adjunct professor, DEI “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna

    Affiliation : DIN (Department of Industrial Engineering), University of Bologna

    Contribution : Project supervision and mechanical design.

  • Carlo Gotti : Adjunct professor, DEI “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna

    Affiliation : DIN (Department of Industrial Engineering), University of Bologna

    Contribution : Supervision of biomedical and mechatronic aspects.

Research Environment and Laboratory Context

The project has been developed within the Advanced Materials and Design Lab, part of the University of Bologna. The laboratory provided the scientific environment, technical resources, and research guidance necessary for the development of the prototype and associated experimental activities.

The interdisciplinary setting, combining expertise in biomedical engineering, electronics, control systems, and human-centered design, fosters a research-driven approach to assistive technology development.

Further information about the laboratory and its ongoing research activities is available at:

AMD (Advanced Material and Design Lab) University of Bologna

Editorial Note: The technical development and iterative refinement of the sensing-actuation interface described in the Contribution section was carried out by the site curator.