Towards an Active Ankle-Foot Prosthesis Powered by Dielectric Elastomer Actuators in Antagonistic Pairs

Novelli, Guilherme L.; Andrade, Rafhael M.

doi:10.1109/ismr48346.2021.9661530

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…However special attention should be given for the fabrication method to reproduce the high torque required by the lower-limb joints. Novelli and Andrade (2021) assessed the application of the fiber-constrained DEA to power an ankle-foot prosthesis. For a 70 kg individual, 850 stacked FCDEAs was required to cover the full range of torques for a walking speed of 1.25 m/s.…”

Section: Prostheses and Orthosesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dielectric elastomer actuators as artificial muscles for wearable robots

Novelli

Vargas

Andrade

2022

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

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Current powered prosthetic and orthotic devices are mostly based on rigid actuators, which exhibit some intrinsic limitations, such as the reduced number of degrees of freedom, high weight, and limited flexibility. As progress is made in the soft robotics field, artificial muscles arise as potential candidates to replace current rigid actuator technologies. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are a very promising class of soft actuator and are attracting attention due to their high energy density, fast response, and high actuation strains, similar or even superior to natural muscles. Such remarkable properties can lead the DEAs to be the next generation of actuators for wearable robots, and overcome the limitations imposed by the rigid actuators currently used. This paper reviews the state of art of the applications of DEAs to prostheses, orthoses, and rehabilitation devices. We analyzed the main configurations that are suitable as artificial muscles for the above-mentioned applications and presented the basic model of a dielectric elastomer transducer. When compared to the properties of natural skeletal muscle, some of these configurations stand out. However, there are still some drawbacks that prevent the large-scale application of DEAs, for instance the high operating voltages, durability issues, and nonlinearities that make them difficult to control. We investigated recent advances in materials, control strategies and fabrication methods that tackle these drawbacks, and they indicate that dielectric elastomers are great candidates to be the next generation of actuators for bionic devices.

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Section: Prostheses and Orthosesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dielectric elastomer actuators as artificial muscles for wearable robots

Novelli

Vargas

Andrade

2022

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

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“…As the thickness of the elastomer can be reduced and the electrodes can approach each other, DEs act as electromechanical transducers, converting electrical energy into mechanical energy or vice versa. Among the DE applications, the most common are actuators, which convert electrical energy into mechanical energy [9], but there are also generators that transform mechanical energy into electrical energy [10], and sensors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We designed an underactuated mechanism composed of two coupled four-bar chain mechanisms to allow for just one pair of FCDEAs to drive the finger. Since FCDEAs are linear expanding actuators [9,11], once an FCDEA expands, the agonistic pair contracts, thus rotating the driving rod of the mechanism. This approach mimics the skeletal striated muscles of the forearm to move the finger and introduces some advantages compared to other robotic hand prostheses, such as easier operation, noiselessness, mechanical compliance, and low weight.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finger Prosthesis Driven by DEA Pairs as Agonist–Antagonist Artificial Muscles

da Silva,

Mendes,

Bragato

et al. 2024

Biomimetics

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Loss of an upper limb exerts a negative influence on an individual’s ability to perform their activities of daily living (ADLs), reducing quality of life and self-esteem. A prosthesis capable of performing basic ADLs functions has the capability of restoring independence and autonomy to amputees. However, current technologies present in robotic prostheses are based on rigid actuators with several drawbacks, such as high weight and low compliance. Recent advances in robotics have allowed for the development of flexible actuators and artificial muscles to overcome the limitations of rigid actuators. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) consist of a thin elastomer membrane arranged between two compliant electrodes capable of changing dimensions when stimulated with an electrical potential difference. In this work, we present the design and testing of a finger prosthesis driven by two DEAs arranged as agonist–antagonist pairs as artificial muscles. The soft actuators are designed as fiber-constrained dielectric elastomers (FCDE), enabling displacement in just one direction as natural muscles. The finger prosthesis was designed and modeled to show bend movement using just one pair of DEAs and was made of PLA in an FDM 3D printer to be lightweight. The experimental results show great agreement with the proposed model and indicate that the proposed finger prosthesis is promising in overcoming the limitations of the current rigid based actuators.

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