A wearable textile-based pneumatic energy harvesting system for assistive robotics

Abstract

Wearable assistive, rehabilitative, and augmentative devices currently require bulky power supplies, often making these tools more of a burden than an asset. This work introduces a soft, low-profile, textile-based pneumatic energy harvesting system that extracts power directly from the foot strike of a user during walking. Energy is harvested with a textile pump integrated into the insole of the user’s shoe and stored in a wearable textile bladder to operate pneumatic actuators on demand, with system performance optimized based on a mechano-fluidic model. The system recovered a maximum average power of nearly 3 W with over 20% conversion efficiency—outperforming electromagnetic, piezoelectric, and triboelectric alternatives—and was used to power a wearable arm-lift device that assists shoulder motion and a supernumerary robotic arm, demonstrating its capability as a lightweight, low-cost, and comfortable solution to support adults with upper body functional limitations in activities of daily living.

A low-cost wearable device for portable sequential compression therapy

“…For example, sewing the straps of the device into (or underneath) a pant leg would enable the device to be wearable like conventional garments yet still provide SCT in an inconspicuous and comfortable manner. The implementation of textile-based energy harvesting or logic control could enable the device to be made solely from textile materials, ensuring an entirely soft (and washable) device ( Rajappan et al, 2022 ; Shveda et al, 2022 ). The system could also be further developed to deliver SCT more precisely in an automatic manner by using closed-loop control ( Payne et al, 2018 ; Sanchez et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Larger batteries could enable multiple sessions. Furthermore, the power consumption is 2 W, and previous research provided a textile-based energy harvesting device that could supply an output of 3 W, showing promise for future work ( Shveda et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Frontiers in Robotics and AI frontiersin.org systems, such as functionally complete logic control (Rajappan et al, 2022) and power generation from walking (Shveda et al, 2022). Additionally, prior work in soft robotics has shown that textile-based wearable devices represent a promising solution for low-cost, untethered, and lightweight devices that apply forces to the body (Sanchez et al, 2021).…”

“…By leveraging their pliable geometry, the functions of sheet-based devices are diverse, ranging from oscillating actuators ( Lee et al, 2022 ) to instability driven locomotion ( Nagarkar et al, 2021 ). Going further, sheet-based devices made from textiles have been demonstrated in useful soft systems, such as functionally complete logic control ( Rajappan et al, 2022 ) and power generation from walking ( Shveda et al, 2022 ). Additionally, prior work in soft robotics has shown that textile-based wearable devices represent a promising solution for low-cost, untethered, and lightweight devices that apply forces to the body ( Sanchez et al, 2021 ).…”

Restoring arm function with a soft robotic wearable for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

“…Most soft robotic wearables are prototypes (7,14), either cabledriven or pneumatically actuated, with a limited number of untethered and fully portable devices. Some of these include three cabledriven shoulder robots (15)(16)(17), one pneumatic shoulder robot (18), one pneumatic robot assisting either the elbow or the wrist joint (19), and one elbow robot using shape memory alloy springs as the actuation mechanism (20). In addition, most published studies have been performed on healthy individuals only, mainly demonstrating a reduction in muscle activity during weightlifting.…”