High-Force Fabric-Based Pneumatic Actuators With Asymmetric Chambers and Interference-Reinforced Structure for Soft Wearable Assistive Gloves

Feng, Miao; Yang, Dezhi; Gu, Guoying

doi:10.1109/lra.2021.3062588

Cited by 38 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…We further fabricate a soft fabric-based pneumatic actuator (Feng et al, 2021;Ge et al, 2020) for use in rehabilitation and assistive exoskeletons to examine the broad potential of IEAR for different materials and actuator types (Figure 4g-i, Supplementary Note 6, and Movie S7). This fabric-based actuator (10.2 g) comprises a flexing chamber and an extending chamber, and it is worn on a silicone hand to assist the finger motion.…”

Section: Fabric-based Fingermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A laser cutter (VLS 3.50, Universal Laser Systems, USA) trims the fabric to the target CAD pattern, and then a heat-sealing machine (customized) manually seals the fabric pieces into actuators. Specific methods are referred to the work of Feng et al (Feng et al, 2021). For the extensive application, Ecoflex 0030 (Smooth On, USA) and M 4601 (Wacker, Germany) are mixed 1:1 (mass) to cast the fiber-reinforced silicone actuator (62.1 g).…”

Section: Materials and Fabrication Of The Robots In Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multi-chamber soft pneumatic actuators (m-SPAs) are promising in the applications of soft machines and robots, including rotators (Ainla et al, 2017), oscillators (Preston et al, 2019), grippers (Shintake et al, 2018;Gong et al, 2021;Low et al, 2020), robotic hands Deimel and Brock, 2016), gloves (Feng et al, 2021;Connolly et al, 2019;Yun et al, 2017), snake-inspired robots (Qi et al, 2020;Luo et al, 2014), bioinspired robotic fish (Marchese et al, 2014), multi-legged robots (Drotman et al, 2021(Drotman et al, , 2017Wehner et al, 2016;Shepherd et al, 2011), and soft functional arrays (Hashem et al, 2021a,b;Robertson et al, 2017). Increasing the speed and reducing the energy consumption of m-SPAs could lead to more steady, reliable, and robust performance (Ainla et al, 2017;Marchese et al, 2014;Aubin et al, 2022;Gorissen et al, 2017;Polygerinos et al, 2017;Xavier et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-speed and Low-energy Actuation for Pneumatic Soft Robots With Internal Exhaust Air Recirculation

Feng

Yang

Majidi

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Multi-chamber soft pneumatic actuators (m-SPAs) have been widely used in soft robotic systems to achieve versatile grasping and locomotion. However, existing m-SPAs have slow actuation speed and are either limited by a finite air supply or require energy-consuming hardware to continuously supply compressed air. Here, we address these shortcomings by introducing an internal exhaust air recirculation (IEAR) mechanism for high-speed and low-energy actuation of m-SPAs. This mechanism recirculates the exhaust compressed air and recovers the energy by harnessing the rhythmic actuation of multiple chambers. We develop a theoretical model to guide the analysis of the IEAR mechanism, which agrees well with the experimental results. Comparative experimental results of several sets of m-SPAs show that our IEAR mechanism significantly improves the actuation speed by more than 82.4% and reduces the energy consumption per cycle by more than 47.7% under typical conditions. We further demonstrate the promising applications of the IEAR mechanism in various pneumatic soft machines and robots such as a robotic fin, fabric-based finger, and quadruped robot. Corresponding author(s) Email: guguoying@sjtu.edu.cn

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Section: Fabric-based Fingermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials and Fabrication Of The Robots In Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-speed and Low-energy Actuation for Pneumatic Soft Robots With Internal Exhaust Air Recirculation

Feng

Yang

Majidi

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Numerous groups worldwide have conducted studies on hand rehabilitation robotics with different actuators for restoring muscle and nerve function of activities in daily life (ADLs) [8] – [11] . Most hand rehabilitation devices are implemented with pneumatic [12] , motors [13] , [14] and bionic actuators [15] – [18] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of Wearable Hand Rehabilitation Glove With Bionic Fiber-Reinforced Actuator

Han

2022

IEEE J. Transl. Eng. Health Med.

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Background: The hand motor function is lost and activities in daily life (ADLs) are affected due to some illnesses such as stroke and hemiplegia. As a coping way, we present a wearable rehabilitation glove with the bionic actuator for restoring the hand function and the motor control ability lost by stroke patients. Methods: The soft pneumatic bionic actuator (SPBA) is developed on the basis of the research of human hand bone structure and finger joint characteristics and a series of tests are conducted. Besides, we built the rehabilitation glove system based on the proposed SPBAs to verify the availability due to typical gesture, mirror therapy (MT) and grasping experiment for irregular objects. Result: The bending angle of SPBA can reach 260°. The output force of it can reach 5.1N with 0.25 MPa air pressure input. The maximum variance of the bending angle can be concluded at 5.1° in MT. The grasping experiments of the glove worn on the hand or not shows the proposed glove is flexible, the grip force is large and achieve stable grasping of objects. Conclusion: The designed SPBA is satisfied with the requirements of rehabilitation training and the proposed glove restore the normal hand motion of patients in ADLs.

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“…To create fabric-based fluidic actuators capable of applying forces and defining motions, layers of materials with opposing mechanical properties are joined to form anisotropic inflated pouches. Technologies such as ultrasonic welding [ 25 ], thermal welding [ 5 , 19 , 26 ], and overlock sewing [ 16 ] have been used to construct anisotropic actuator shells by combining fabric layers with different mechanical properties. Soft actuator shells are then inflated with air fluid to produce the necessary force and motion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Segment Types on Characterization of Soft Sensing Textile Actuators for Soft Wearable Robots

et al. 2022

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The use of textiles in soft robotics is gaining popularity because of the advantages textiles offer over other materials in terms of weight, conformability, and ease of manufacture. The purpose of this research is to examine the stitching process used to construct fabric-based pneumatic bending actuators as well as the effect of segment types on the actuators’ properties when used in soft robotic glove applications. To impart bending motion to actuators, two techniques have been used: asymmetry between weave and weft knit fabric layers and mechanical anisotropy between these two textiles. The impacts of various segment types on the actuators’ grip force and bending angle were investigated further. According to experiments, segmenting the actuator with a sewing technique increases the bending angle. It was discovered that actuators with high anisotropy differences in their fabric combinations have high gripping forces. Textile-based capacitive strain sensors are also added to selected segmented actuator types, which possess desirable properties such as increased grip force, increased bending angle, and reduced radial expansion. The sensors were used to demonstrate the controllability of a soft robotic glove using a closed-loop system. Finally, we demonstrated that actuators integrated into a soft wearable glove are capable of grasping a variety of items and performing various grasp types.

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High-Force Fabric-Based Pneumatic Actuators With Asymmetric Chambers and Interference-Reinforced Structure for Soft Wearable Assistive Gloves

Cited by 38 publications

References 41 publications

High-speed and Low-energy Actuation for Pneumatic Soft Robots With Internal Exhaust Air Recirculation

High-speed and Low-energy Actuation for Pneumatic Soft Robots With Internal Exhaust Air Recirculation

Design of Wearable Hand Rehabilitation Glove With Bionic Fiber-Reinforced Actuator

Effect of Segment Types on Characterization of Soft Sensing Textile Actuators for Soft Wearable Robots

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