[Master's Thesis] - Development of a Continuum-Manipulator-based Exoskeleton for the Hand

22.01.2026, Diplomarbeiten, Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten

Exoskeletons are a potential solution to assist therapists in their workflow and patients when undergoing rehabilitation. In this project, a continuum manipulator-based solution for the knee will be adapted to an exoskeleton solution for the hand.

The Human-Centered Computing and Extended Reality Lab of the Professorship for Machine Intelligence in Orthopedics seeks applicants for Bachelor/Master Thesis for the Summer Semester 2025.

Rehabilitation remains a cost- and labor-intensive endeavor, even with the introduction of AI into the healthcare sector. Chief among those factors are the therapists themselves, whose ever-increasing workload, combined with the acute shortage of trained therapists remaining in the healthcare sector, also represents a bottleneck in the number of patients receiving treatment.

Exoskeletons provide a unique solution to augment existing rehabilitation workforces, providing them with new, objective kinematic patient data during the recovery process to judge the rehabilitation progress of their patients. This may provide crucial insights into new metrics for the rehabilitation progress and enhance the outcomes of treatment options. Additionally, the portability inherent to exoskeletons allows patients to practice safely in the comfort of their own homes without requiring the direct presence of a supervising therapist.

The hand and wrist prove to be one of the most challenging body parts to move via an exoskeleton, due to having 27 degrees of freedom in a confined space. The large variance in finger length poses additional requirements for possible actuation solutions. Therefore, this project aims to develop a continuum-manipulator-based solution by adapting an existing prototype for the knee and reducing its size to accommodate the hand. In this first step, the development will be focused on the index finger and thumb.

• Reviewing the state-of-the-art in exoskeletons/exosuits for the knee.
• Further develop an existing actuation solution and enhance its controlling scheme
• Evaluate the developed solution

• Good proficiency with C/C++ and Python
• Good proficiency with CAD software
• Good proficiency with microcontroller programming and bus-systems
• Prior knowledge of additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping
• Interest in exoskeletons and robotic rehabilitation devices

Please send your transcript of records, CV and motivation to: Victor Schaack (vic.schaack@tum.de) with CC to hex-thesis.ortho@mh.tum.de

You can find more information and other topics for theses on our website: https://hex-lab.io

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2. Wang, Y., Wu, Z., Wang, L., Feng, B., & Xu, K. (2022). Inverse Kinematics and Dexterous Workspace Formulation for 2-Segment Continuum Robots With Inextensible Segments. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(1), 510–517. https://doi.org/10.1109/lra.2021.3128689
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5. Kavianirad, H., Missiroli, F., Endo, S., Masia, L., & Hirche, S. (2024). Toward Dexterous Hand Functional Movement: Wearable Hybrid Soft Exoglove-FES Study. In 2024 10th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob) (pp. 1346–1351). 2024 10th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/biorob60516.2024.10719731

Kontakt: vic.schaack@tum.de