The Ironhand system is the world’s first active soft exoskeleton for the hand, designed to improve the health for workers that perform grasp intensive, repetitive, and static work tasks. Ironhand will not give industrial workers “superpowers” but mimics the user's grasp movements and gives extra strength and endurance to the grasp. The extra strength relieves the muscles and conserves the energy of the user, improving productivity as well as the well-being by the end of the shift. In short, the system helps to keep the workers healthy and efficient.
The Ironhand system consists of a glove, covering all five fingers, and a power pack worn in a backpack or hip-carry. Via a remote control or an app, the operator can easily adjust the force, the balance between the fingers, the sensitivity, locking, and other settings to adjust the system to the work situation at hand. Ironhand is suitable for grasp intensive work tasks where the hands are exposed to high forces, repetitive and/or static work. The system is highly configurable to suit specific work tasks and individual preferences
The heart of the Ironhand system is the ingeniously designed glove that mimics our anatomy and distributes the power to the fingers based on the pressure applied and the preset configuration. A lot of development efforts have been put into the latest design that is thinner, slimmer, and with improved dexterity.
The operator can adjust the configurations and create customized profiles according to their individual preferences and specific work tasks at any time throughout the workday. This is done in IronConnect, an android based app for configuration and profile management of the Ironhand glove. There is also a remote control where the operator can change the grip force, select a preset profile or press quick stop at any time.
There are two carrying solutions available, this gives the operators the opportunity to choose the carrying solution that best fits the nature of their work. Some prefer the backpack where the power unit is worn on the back, others prefer the hip-carry where the power pack is worn in a belt on the hip with suspenders as support. Both the hip-carry and the backpack come in different sizes for an optimal fit.
Ironhand collects data to enable a digital risk assessment in which use cases that run a potential high ergonomic risk is evaluated and identified. The analysis provides an assessment of the operator’s risk of developing strain injuries as well as the potential risk reduction which Ironhand can contribute. The data capabilities make it possible to connect the operator and integrate the human into the Industry 4.0/Factory of the Future concept.
