Design and Development of Upper Limb Soft Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation

Gobee, Suresh; Durairajah, Vickneswari; Mugilan, G.

doi:10.1007/978-981-10-7554-4_19

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Upper-limb rehabilitation can also be improved by involving EMG sensors for intent detection during mirror therapy [ 62 , 120 , 129 ]. One comparative study [ 76 ] showed that, by using a neural network-based strategy, a difference of more than 50% in torque compensation could be observed as opposed to several other control methods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Precise control along the actuator’s continuum may not be achievable in the control of these wearables. Researchers thus simplify their control by using one input to drive multiple DOFs in one or more joints [ 110 , 111 , 113 , 115 , 117 , 120 , 122 , 124 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 131 , 132 , 134 , 135 , 136 , 138 , 139 ]. In addition to modeling the behavior of the wearable, it should be underscored that human tissues are highly deformable and the interface needs to better conform to the skin [ 46 ] to better correlate with the motion of the body.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Critical Review on Factors Affecting the User Adoption of Wearable and Soft Robotics

Ang

Yeow

Lim

2023

Sensors

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In recent years, the advent of soft robotics has changed the landscape of wearable technologies. Soft robots are highly compliant and malleable, thus ensuring safe human-machine interactions. To date, a wide variety of actuation mechanisms have been studied and adopted into a multitude of soft wearables for use in clinical practice, such as assistive devices and rehabilitation modalities. Much research effort has been put into improving their technical performance and establishing the ideal indications for which rigid exoskeletons would play a limited role. However, despite having achieved many feats over the past decade, soft wearable technologies have not been extensively investigated from the perspective of user adoption. Most scholarly reviews of soft wearables have focused on the perspective of service providers such as developers, manufacturers, or clinicians, but few have scrutinized the factors affecting adoption and user experience. Hence, this would pose a good opportunity to gain insight into the current practice of soft robotics from a user’s perspective. This review aims to provide a broad overview of the different types of soft wearables and identify the factors that hinder the adoption of soft robotics. In this paper, a systematic literature search using terms such as “soft”, “robot”, “wearable”, and “exoskeleton” was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines to include peer-reviewed publications between 2012 and 2022. The soft robotics were classified according to their actuation mechanisms into motor-driven tendon cables, pneumatics, hydraulics, shape memory alloys, and polyvinyl chloride muscles, and their pros and cons were discussed. The identified factors affecting user adoption include design, availability of materials, durability, modeling and control, artificial intelligence augmentation, standardized evaluation criteria, public perception related to perceived utility, ease of use, and aesthetics. The critical areas for improvement and future research directions to increase adoption of soft wearables have also been highlighted.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Review on Factors Affecting the User Adoption of Wearable and Soft Robotics

Ang

Yeow

Lim

2023

Sensors

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“…Another popular approach is mimetic control, or mirror position control [55,62,70,71]. Assuming that one of the two arms is healthy, it is possible to track its movements and reproduce them on the impaired limb thanks to the device.…”

Section: Kinematic and Dynamic Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upper limb soft robotic wearable devices: a systematic review

Bardi

Gandolla

Braghin

et al. 2022

J NeuroEngineering Rehabil

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Introduction Soft robotic wearable devices, referred to as exosuits, can be a valid alternative to rigid exoskeletons when it comes to daily upper limb support. Indeed, their inherent flexibility improves comfort, usability, and portability while not constraining the user’s natural degrees of freedom. This review is meant to guide the reader in understanding the current approaches across all design and production steps that might be exploited when developing an upper limb robotic exosuit. Methods The literature research regarding such devices was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The investigated features are the intended scenario, type of actuation, supported degrees of freedom, low-level control, high-level control with a focus on intention detection, technology readiness level, and type of experiments conducted to evaluate the device. Results A total of 105 articles were collected, describing 69 different devices. Devices were grouped according to their actuation type. More than 80% of devices are meant either for rehabilitation, assistance, or both. The most exploited actuation types are pneumatic (52%) and DC motors with cable transmission (29%). Most devices actuate 1 (56%) or 2 (28%) degrees of freedom, and the most targeted joints are the elbow and the shoulder. Intention detection strategies are implemented in 33% of the suits and include the use of switches and buttons, IMUs, stretch and bending sensors, EMG and EEG measurements. Most devices (75%) score a technology readiness level of 4 or 5. Conclusion Although few devices can be considered ready to reach the market, exosuits show very high potential for the assistance of daily activities. Clinical trials exploiting shared evaluation metrics are needed to assess the effectiveness of upper limb exosuits on target users.

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