Power Assist Wear Driven with Pneumatic Rubber Artificial Muscles

Noritsugu, Toshiro; Takaiwa, Masahiro; Sasaki, Daisuke

doi:10.1109/mmvip.2008.4749589

Cited by 48 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Several groups around the world have started to develop soft hand rehabilitation and power-assist systems [12][13][14]. These systems are based on soft fluidic fiber-reinforced actuators, which consist of a pneumatically-or hydraulically-pressurized pocket, or chamber, enclosed in a polymer, which is reinforced with soft strain limiting materials.…”

Section: Related Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gerboni et al [15] developed modular soft manipulators with multi-pocket structures for minimally-invasive surgery; Park et al [9] prototyped a power-assist device for the knee; Deimel and Brock [16] used them as fingers for their robotic hand; and finally, Noritsugu et al [12], Polygerinos et al [13] and Yap et al [14] each developed their own versions of a portable power-assist/rehabilitation glove.…”

Section: Related Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current soft fluidic actuators for rehabilitation and power-assist glove systems control only one axis of motion for each joint [12][13][14]. This means that the motion of the MCP joint can be supported only in one degree of freedom (DoF), although it has two, flexion-extension and abduction-adduction.…”

Section: Related Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pneumatic Multi-Pocket Elastomer Actuators for Metacarpophalangeal Joint Flexion and Abduction-Adduction

Tarvainen

2017

Actuators

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During recent years, interest has been rising towards developing fluidic fiber-reinforced elastomer actuators for wearable soft robotics used in hand rehabilitation and power-assist. However, they do not enable finger abduction-adduction, which plays an important role in activities of daily living, when grasping larger objects. Furthermore, the developed gloves often do not have separate control of joints, which is important for doing various common rehabilitation motions. The main obstacle for the development of a fully-assisting glove is moving a joint with multiple degrees of freedom. If the functions are built into the same structure, they are naturally coupled and affect each other, which makes them more difficult to design and complex to control than a simple flexion-extension actuator. In this study, we explored the key design elements and fabrication of pneumatic multi-pocket elastomer actuators for a soft rehabilitation glove. The goal was to gain more control over the metacarpophalangeal joint's response by increasing the degree of actuation.Three main functional designs were tested for achieving both flexion and abduction-adduction. Five prototypes, with four different actuator geometries and four different reinforcement types, were designed and fabricated. They were evaluated by recording their free motion with motion capture and measuring their torque output using a dummy finger. Results showed the strengths and weaknesses of each design in separating the control of the two functions. We discuss the different improvements that are needed in order to make each design plausible for developing an actuator that meets the requirements for full assist of the hand's motions. In conclusion, we show that it is possible to produce multi-pocket actuators for assisting MCP joint motion in both flexion and abduction-adduction, although coupling between the separate functions is still problematic and should be considered further.

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Section: Related Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pneumatic Multi-Pocket Elastomer Actuators for Metacarpophalangeal Joint Flexion and Abduction-Adduction

Tarvainen

2017

Actuators

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“…no moving parts), manufacturing costs, and can simplify the controls overhead [1], [2], [3]. Soft systems also offer improved safety as these actuators (typically pneumatic or hydraulic) are inherently safe for interfacing with humans, animals or fragile objects due to their natural compliance and back drivability [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanically programmable bend radius for fiber-reinforced soft actuators

Galloway

Polygerinos

Walsh³

et al. 2013

2013 16th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR)

250

149

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Abstract-Established design and fabrication guidelines exist for achieving a variety of motions with soft actuators such as bending, contraction, extension, and twisting. These guidelines typically involve multi-step molding of composite materials (elastomers, paper, fiber, etc.) along with specially designed geometry. In this paper we present the design and fabrication of a robust, fiber-reinforced soft bending actuator where its bend radius and bending axis can be mechanically-programed with a flexible, selectively-placed conformal covering that acts to mechanically constrain motion. Several soft actuators were fabricated and their displacement and force capabilities were measured experimentally and compared to demonstrate the utility of this approach. Finally, a prototype two-digit endeffector was designed and programmed with the conformal covering to shape match a rectangular object. We demonstrated improved gripping force compared to a pure bending actuator. We envision this approach enabling rapid customization of soft actuator function for grasping applications where the geometry of the task is known a priori.

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“…An exoskeleton developed by University of Tsukuba works only when the wearer needs its help so that it doesn't disturb wearer's delicate works [12]. Researchers in Okayama University developed some wearable robots called "Power Assist Wear" [13]. Their actuator is a pneumatic rubber artificial muscle which is light, soft and fitted for users.…”

Section: Sensing and Motion Augmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%