Soft robotics hold promise in the development of safe yet powered assistive wearable devices for infants. Key to this is the development of closed-loop controllers that can help regulate pneumatic pressure in the device's actuators in an effort to induce controlled motion at the user's limbs and be able to track different types of trajectories. This work develops a controller for soft pneumatic actuators aimed to power a pediatric soft wearable robotic device prototype for upper extremity motion assistance. The controller tracks desired trajectories for a system of soft pneumatic actuators supporting two-degree-of-freedom shoulder joint motion on an infant-sized engineered mannequin. The degrees of freedom assisted by the actuators are equivalent to shoulder motion (abduction/adduction and flexion/extension). Embedded inertial measurement unit sensors provide real-time joint feedback. Experimental data from performing reaching tasks using the engineered mannequin are obtained and compared against ground truth to evaluate the performance of the developed controller. Results reveal the proposed controller leads to accurate trajectory tracking performance across a variety of shoulder joint motions.

This paper focuses on the design and systematic evaluation of fabric-based, bellow-type soft pneumatic actuators to assist with flexion and extension of the elbow, intended for use in infant wearable devices. Initially, the performance of a range of actuator variants was explored via simulation. The actuator variants were parameterized based on the shape, number, and size of the cells present. Subsequently, viable actuator variants identified from the simulations were fabricated and underwent further testing on a physical model based on an infant's body anthropometrics. The performance of these variants was evaluated based on kinematic analyses using metrics including movement smoothness, path length, and elbow joint angle. Internal pressure of the actuators was also attained. Taken together, results reported herein provide valuable insights about the suitability of several actuator designs to serve as components for pediatric wearable assistive devices.