Finger Trainer

When Julian was younger he decided he wanted to play the piano. Quite soon after starting it became apparent that his cerebral palsy also affects his finer motor coordination. He found it impossible to do certain chords. He was devastated.

The idea behind the Finger Trainer was to distract Julian away from the piano so he could work on his finer motor control while having an enjoyable time doing so.

The device is a series of five tubes. Each tube has its associated pressure sensor. Each sensor is linked to its own strip of eight Adafruit’s Neopixel LEDs. These are individually programmable/addressable LEDs.

The harder Julian presses on the sensors, more of the LEDs light up.

The idea being that it is possible to challenge Julian, in a fun way, to achieve different controlled finger moves and pressure controls seeing the lights light up as requested. A series of challenges could be programmed into the device to indicate which fingers should press and how hard. He would have to achieve that level or close to it to gain points.

How it works

Each pressure sensor has a coloured foam, finger pad covering it. The colour of the pad is the same as the LEDs that light up for that finger.

The LEDs are each protected inside a clear acrylic tube. This prototype is controlled via an Arduino Uno.

Conclusion and considerations

The finger trainer is entertaining to play with. But this format is not easy to manipulate--too many cables and the tube positioning is stiff. If Julian takes his fingers off the pads they move and need to be repositioned before continuing. Gloves would be the next logical step.