A Novel Biomedical Technology Based on the Use of Artificial Muscles to Assist with Hand Functions

Patiño, Astrid García; Ferrone, Andrea; Gastelum, Carlos Galvan Duque; Menon, Carlo

doi:10.1109/iemcon.2018.8615033

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Patiño et al [ 82 ] also developed a wearable orthosis for hand rehabilitation movements, with a TCP actuator on each finger (Figure 8b). The exoskeleton is composed of two main parts fitted to the dorsum of the hand and the fingers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some of the deficiencies in smart materials can be remedied through the SWRR design. Human Body [34] Skeletal Muscles 20 N/A 0.1 20 Maximum N/A Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials [101] Universidad Iberoamericana [82] (2018) TCP 10 5.4 1.1 %0.02 L: N/A D: 2.5 mm Bio-robotics and Smart Systems Laboratory [59] (2017) MENRVA Group [81] (2016) TCP 15. 0.9 N/A 0.1 N/A KAIST [97] Ajou University [92] (2020) SMA 5 10.5 594 %1 L: 800 mm D: 0.15 mm Carlos III University of Madrid [52] [89] (2009) SMA %3 10 203 %0.025 L: 2.5 m D: 0.25 mm Artificial Intelligence Laboratory [88] The required torque depends on two different aspects, the generated force and the lever arm.…”

Section: Artificial Muscles Enhancements Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Soft Wearable Rehabilitation Robots with Artificial Muscles based on Smart Materials: A Review

Gonzalez-Vazquez

Garcia

Kilby

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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During the past decade, wearable devices such as exoskeletons have gained popularity [1] in different fields, such as the military, [2] industry, [3] and rehabilitation. [4] In the latter, rehabilitation exoskeletons are used to restore or maintain the functionality and mobility of people with physical disabilities. [5] These are receiving greater attention as the number of people with disabilities affecting physical performance will increase in the following decades as the population ages and individuals live longer with noncommunicable conditions (e.g., cerebral palsy, stroke, acquired brain injuries, and muscular dystrophies). [6][7][8] Most current exoskeletons use electric motors and rigid links to realize actuation and often have heavy and bulky designs that are difficult to safely wear outside clinical facilities. [9] Hence, researchers in this area are working to develop soft wearable rehabilitation robots (SWRRs), featuring soft actuators that are agreeable to the users as they have increased compliance, adaptability, comfort, safety, and less weight. [10][11][12] Currently, SWRR relies mainly upon two soft robotic technologies, cable-driven and fluidic actuators. For a cable-driven system, the wire is embedded into clothes or tubes and attached to an anchor point. The other side of the wire is connected to an electric motor to generate the desired movement and force by pulling the cable [13,14] (Figure 1a). Alternatively, in fluidic actuation (Hydraulic/Pneumatic), a pressurized fluid is inserted into a chamber made of highly deformable material to generate a displacement [11,15,16] (Figure 1b). However, these require large and heavy external pumps and valves to compress the fluid. [17] Unfortunately, cable-driven and fluidic actuation need cumbersome components (e.g., electric motors, pumps, and valves) to work, compromising the portability of the systems when used in daily life. [18] Therefore, in recent years, research has been committed to developing new actuator technologies that can overcome the drawbacks of the current actuators used in SWRR. These technologies include artificial muscles based on smart materials (AMSMs). AMSMs are soft actuators composed primarily of material with a low Young's modulus similar to that of soft biological materials (10 ^4-10 ^9 Pa) that can sense and directly convert physical stimulus (e.g., light, electrical, heat) into physical displacement. [19][20][21][22][23] Some examples of smart materials are shape-memory alloy (SMA), [24] dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), [25] ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMC), [26] shapememory polymers (SMPs), [27] and twisted and coiled polymer actuators (TCPs). [28] Due to their inherent properties and manufacturing processes, AMSM can be fabricated in various shapes, allowing them to be embedded into flexible and deformable wearable devices. [29][30][31][32] Furthermore, it is possible to fabricate robots with a relatively small weight and volume as they present a power density comparable to the skeletal muscles. [33] Neverthe...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Artificial Muscles Enhancements Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Wearable Rehabilitation Robots with Artificial Muscles based on Smart Materials: A Review

Gonzalez-Vazquez

Garcia

Kilby

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A strategy to increase the response time could be to briefly apply a pulsed signal with high power peaks [12,26]. However, the continuation of a high-power pulse will produce an overheating of the actuator, causing it to break or burn out [27]. Hence, a control strategy should be applied to avoid overheating the actuator and work under safety actuation ranges.…”

Section: Displacement Control Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved performance in temperature and speed of TCP artificial muscles for soft wearables robots by length modification

González

Garcia

Kilby

2023

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Artificial muscles provide a unique solution for wearable rehabilitation robots (WRRs) because they are compliant, compact, and lightweight. Twisted and coiled polymer actuators (TCPs) are artificial muscles from thermally activated polymer fibres. They present high power density, linearity, stress and strain compared to other artificial muscles. Nevertheless, as TCPs require heat to start, their main barrier for widespread use in WRRs are their slow reaction times and the high temperatures they reach. Previous studies have analysed different parameters, like fibre material, fibre diameter, and various cooling systems, to improve TCP frequency response and working temperature. Nevertheless, the length of the actuator has not been explored as a possible parameter to enhance the actuation performance in this regard. This work focuses on studying the behaviour of TCPs with different lengths and how the performance in frequency response and temperature can be improved using the length as a primary parameter, as they are critical for wearable robots. First, a characterisation of the TCPs was performed. Then, a method to improve frequency response, based on offsets on long actuators was implemented and validated using a chirp signal. The experimental results show that the mechanical characteristics are similar regardless of the actuator’s length. They reached a strain of 10 % with a power of 0.16 W/cm. However, the electrothermal properties changed as the power needed to increase temperature was higher when the actuator was enlarged. Therefore, an improvement in the required temperature was found, able to reduce the temperature with the same frequency response. Regarding the technique to enhance the speed of the actuator, it was possible to increase the frequency by 0.0006 Hz for each mm applied as an offset. Hence, the frequency response for the same displacement was increased linearly as the actuator was elongated.

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“…Patiño et al [29] developed a wearable orthotic device for hand rehabilitation featuring individual TCP actuators for each finger. The orthosis consisted of two main components: one fitted to the dorsum of the hand and another for the fingers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paediatric ankle rehabilitation system based on twisted and coiled polymer actuators

Gonzalez-Vazquez,

Garcia,

Kilby

2024

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Rehabilitation is crucial for children with physical disabilities arising from various conditions. Traditional exoskeletons, reliant on electric motors and rigid components, have limitations. To overcome these, researchers are turning to soft wearable rehabilitation robots (SWRRs) with artificial muscles based on smart materials like twisted and coiled polymer actuators (TCPs). TCPs offer enhanced compliance, adaptability, comfort, safety, and reduced weight—critical for paediatric use. Despite facing challenges like low operating frequencies and high temperatures, TCPs are explored as potential artificial muscles for SWRRs, due to their advantages on the force they can generate, the strain and a linear behaviour. This study details a proof of concept for a paediatric rehabilitation system for ankles based on TCPs, including the actuator characterization, mechanical design, control strategy, and human-computer-interface (HCI). The resulting device achieved a 14 Nm torque, a 10° range of motion in dorsiflexion within 5 seconds, and integrated electromyographic HCI. This research marks a promising step towards innovative, soft wearable rehabilitation solutions for children with physical disabilities.

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A Novel Biomedical Technology Based on the Use of Artificial Muscles to Assist with Hand Functions

Cited by 6 publications

References 21 publications

Soft Wearable Rehabilitation Robots with Artificial Muscles based on Smart Materials: A Review

Soft Wearable Rehabilitation Robots with Artificial Muscles based on Smart Materials: A Review

Improved performance in temperature and speed of TCP artificial muscles for soft wearables robots by length modification

Paediatric ankle rehabilitation system based on twisted and coiled polymer actuators

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