Fully Wearable Actuated Soft Exoskeleton for Grasping Assistance in Everyday Activities

Bützer, Tobias; Lambercy, Olivier; Arata, Jumpei; Gassert, Roger

doi:10.1089/soro.2019.0135

Cited by 150 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

119

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Building on the findings of the literature review, we selected, designed, and optimized a RAS in the context of the out-ofthe-lab application of a fully wearable assistive device. As a design case, we chose the clinical and at-home application of the remote actuation unit of an assistive hand exoskeleton for adults and children with hand sensorimotor impairment presented in Bützer et al (2019), Bützer et al (2020) (Figure 2). The hand exoskeleton actively supports the four fingers' flexion and extension (index, middle, ring, and little finger) combined and the thumb separately.…”

Section: Design Case: Fully Wearable Hand Exoskeletonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The hand exoskeleton actively supports the four fingers' flexion and extension (index, middle, ring, and little finger) combined and the thumb separately. By additionally allowing thumb opposition through a passive slider (presented in detail in Bützer et al, 2020), the hand exoskeleton can assist users in performing the most relevant grasp types for daily life (e.g., power grasp, precision pinch, and lateral grasp). For the actuation of the hand exoskeleton, two separate RAS are required to provide a bidirectional, linear output to drive the three-layered spring mechanism implemented in the thumb and the fingers (Bützer et al, 2020) (illustrated in Figure 2).…”

Section: Design Case: Fully Wearable Hand Exoskeletonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By additionally allowing thumb opposition through a passive slider (presented in detail in Bützer et al, 2020), the hand exoskeleton can assist users in performing the most relevant grasp types for daily life (e.g., power grasp, precision pinch, and lateral grasp). For the actuation of the hand exoskeleton, two separate RAS are required to provide a bidirectional, linear output to drive the three-layered spring mechanism implemented in the thumb and the fingers (Bützer et al, 2020) (illustrated in Figure 2). By linearly displacing a sliding spring blade mounted on top of a fixed spring blade, a bending motion of the springs is induced through the relative length change.…”

Section: Design Case: Fully Wearable Hand Exoskeletonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, design requirements such as durability, efficiency, ergonomics, and maintenance are considered to identify the most suitable RAS to actuate a fully wearable assistive robot. Based on the gained insights, we revisit and optimize a previously presented RAS (Hofmann et al, 2018) for long-term, independent out-of-the-lab use with a fully wearable hand exoskeleton for assistance during ADLs in people with hand neuromotor impairment (Bützer et al, 2020), representing a typical design case of a wearable assistive device requiring an efficient, lightweight, and soft RAS. Finally, we present the performance evaluation of the developed RAS with regard to durability and ergonomics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Remote Actuation Systems for Fully Wearable Assistive Devices: Requirements, Selection, and Optimization for Out-of-the-Lab Application of a Hand Exoskeleton

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wearable robots assist individuals with sensorimotor impairment in daily life, or support industrial workers in physically demanding tasks. In such scenarios, low mass and compact design are crucial factors for device acceptance. Remote actuation systems (RAS) have emerged as a popular approach in wearable robots to reduce perceived weight and increase usability. Different RAS have been presented in the literature to accommodate for a wide range of applications and related design requirements. The push toward use of wearable robotics in out-of-the-lab applications in clinics, home environments, or industry created a shift in requirements for RAS. In this context, high durability, ergonomics, and simple maintenance gain in importance. However, these are only rarely considered and evaluated in research publications, despite being drivers for device abandonment by end-users. In this paper, we summarize existing approaches of RAS for wearable assistive technology in a literature review and compare advantages and disadvantages, focusing on specific evaluation criteria for out-of-the-lab applications to provide guidelines for the selection of RAS. Based on the gained insights, we present the development, optimization, and evaluation of a cable-based RAS for out-of-the-lab applications in a wearable assistive soft hand exoskeleton. The presented RAS features full wearability, high durability, high efficiency, and appealing design while fulfilling ergonomic criteria such as low mass and high wearing comfort. This work aims to support the transfer of RAS for wearable robotics from controlled lab environments to out-of-the-lab applications.

show abstract

Section: Design Case: Fully Wearable Hand Exoskeletonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Case: Fully Wearable Hand Exoskeletonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Case: Fully Wearable Hand Exoskeletonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Remote Actuation Systems for Fully Wearable Assistive Devices: Requirements, Selection, and Optimization for Out-of-the-Lab Application of a Hand Exoskeleton

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Specifically, Bowden cable drives and twisted string actuators have been used to assist with walking [7][8][9][10] and upper limb movement. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] These electromechanical actuators can be deterministically designed in a stand-alone manner, although controlling and predicting the performance of the final wearable robot on the body can be a challenge due to the compliance of soft tissue and lack of fixed attachment points. 15,20,21 In particular for cable-based shoulder robots, [11][12][13][14][15] the small biological moment arm over the deltoid may result in large reaction loads to be resisted by anchors unless an external structure is introduced to improve the effective moment arm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unfolding Textile-Based Pneumatic Actuators for Wearable Applications

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Textile based pneumatic actuators have recently seen increased development for use in wearable applications thanks to their high strength to weight ratio and range of achievable actuation modalities. However, the design of these textile-based actuators is typically an iterative process due to the complexity of predicting the soft and compliant behavior of the textiles. In this work we investigate the actuation mechanics of a range of physical prototypes of unfolding textile-based actuators to understand and develop an intuition for how the geometric parameters of the actuator affect the moment it generates, enabling more deterministic designs in the future. Under benchtop conditions the actuators were characterized at a range of actuator angles and pressures (0-136 kPa), and three distinct performance regimes were observed, which we define as Shearing, Creasing, and Flattening. During Flattening, the effects of both the length and radius of the actuator dominate with maximum moments in excess of 80 Nm being generated, while during Creasing the radius dominates with generated moments scaling with the cube of the radius. Low stiffness spring like behavior is observed in the Shearing regime, which occurs as the actuator approaches its unfolded angle. A piecewise analytical model was also developed and compared to the experimental results within each regime. Finally, a prototype actuator was also integrated into a shoulder assisting wearable robot, and on-body characterization of this robot was performed on five healthy individuals to observe the behavior of the actuators in a wearable application. Results from this characterization highlight that these actuators can generate useful on-body moments (10.74 Nm at 90°a ctuator angle) but that there are significant reductions compared to bench-top performance, in particular when mostly folded and at higher pressures.

show abstract

Locally Addressable Energy Efficient Actuation of Magnetic Soft Actuator Array Systems

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Advances in magnetoresponsive composites and (electro‐)magnetic actuators have led to development of magnetic soft machines (MSMs) as building blocks for small‐scale robotic devices. Near‐field MSMs offer energy efficiency and compactness by bringing the field source and effectors in close proximity. Current challenges of near‐field MSM are limited programmability of effector motion, dimensionality, ability to perform collaborative tasks, and structural flexibility. Herein, a new class of near‐field MSMs is demonstrated that combines microscale thickness flexible planar coils with magnetoresponsive polymer effectors. Ultrathin manufacturing and magnetic programming of effectors is used to tailor their response to the nonhomogeneous near‐field distribution on the coil surface. The MSMs are demonstrated to lift, tilt, pull, or grasp in close proximity to each other. These ultrathin (80 µm) and lightweight (100 gm−2) MSMs can operate at high frequency (25 Hz) and low energy consumption (0.5 W), required for the use of MSMs in portable electronics.

show abstract

Fully Wearable Actuated Soft Exoskeleton for Grasping Assistance in Everyday Activities

Cited by 150 publications

References 46 publications

Remote Actuation Systems for Fully Wearable Assistive Devices: Requirements, Selection, and Optimization for Out-of-the-Lab Application of a Hand Exoskeleton

Remote Actuation Systems for Fully Wearable Assistive Devices: Requirements, Selection, and Optimization for Out-of-the-Lab Application of a Hand Exoskeleton

Unfolding Textile-Based Pneumatic Actuators for Wearable Applications

Locally Addressable Energy Efficient Actuation of Magnetic Soft Actuator Array Systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About