Design and Characterization of a Lightweight and Fully Portable Remote Actuation System for Use With a Hand Exoskeleton

Design and Evaluation of a Bowden-Cable-Based Remote Actuation System for Wearable Robotics

“…In addition, leakage can occur and lines can burst, potentially causing serious injuries. The most promising and most commonly used RAS in wearable robotics are systems based on Bowden cables [10], [11], [17]- [25]. The integration into existing systems driven by electromagnetic motors is straightforward, the needed components are easily accessible, and the cables operate safely.…”

“…In our previous work, we presented and used a RAS for a hand exoskeleton, based on a bidirectional Bowden cable design [11]. It reduced the mass of the exoskeleton worn at the hand from 256 g to 113 g. However, stroke and spinal cord injury (SCI) patients revealed in a usability study that the stiffness of the Bowden cables leads to both high perceived weight and limited ROM of the arm.…”

“…In this paper, we present a RAS dimensioned and optimized for the specific case of a wearable hand exoskeleton intended for use during ADL in the home environment as a proof-of-concept. Furthermore, we directly compare the new system to the Bowden-cable-based solution previously presented by our group [11].…”

Introductory Chapter: Toward Near-Natural Assistive Devices

“…Cyberdyne's HAL Lower Limb, Rewalk's Rewalk Personal and Rewalk Rehabilitation, and Rex Bionics' Rex P among many others provide lower limb rehabilitation and walking platforms for those with paralysis. Exoskeletons also exist in the academic research field, including ExoGlove Poly [26], the Wyss Institute's Soft Robotic Glove [34], HandSOME [12], Pisa/IIT SoftHand [10], and several others [8,31], which serve as platforms to research novel control algorithms.…”

Exploratory design of a compliant mechanism for a dynamic hand orthosis: Lessons learned

“…A few examples exist where a dynamic hand orthosis uses a compliant mechanism. These range from using simple piano wires for passive support [11] to a more complex active device using multiple parallel leaf springs [12], [13]. Efficiencies for larger ranges of motion, however, are generally low and it is difficult to find the right combination of flexibility and stiffness [14].…”