Fabrication and Basic Characteristics of Pneumatic Smart Artificial Muscle with Conductive Fiber Sensor

Abstract

Recently, the wearable apparatus for supporting human movement have been developed actively with the demand for the advancement of QoL. For these apparatuses safety is the most important factor because they are attached on human body. A McKibben artificial muscle consisting of a rubber tube and a sleeve made from fibers is highly expected as the actuator for applying such apparatuses because of its high power, light weight and flexibility. However, to control the artificial muscle rigid and heavy external sensors are needed in general.In this study, some fibers of the sleeve are converted into conductive fibers, and the applied pressure is estimated from the change of the electric resistance of the conductive fibers. We selected the optimal conductive fiber experimentally and relationship between electrical resistance of the fiber and applied pressure was observed. As a result, the electric resistance of the fiber sensor changed linearly for applied air pressure.