Design of Low-Cost Soft Ankle Exoskeleton Using Soft Actuators

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Kathan Rajesh Sonar ◽  
S. Sai Sudeep Reddy ◽  
Daniel Schilberg ◽  
Arockia Selvakumar Arockia Doss
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Ankle Exoskeleton ◽  
Soft Actuators

scholarly journals Fiber Embroidery of Self-Sensing Soft Actuators

Biomimetics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Ceron ◽  
Itai Cohen ◽  
Robert Shepherd ◽  
James Pikul ◽  
Cindy Harnett
Keyword(s):  
Optical Fibers ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Linear Displacement ◽  
Angular Rotation ◽  
Linear Elements ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
Inextensible Fibers ◽  
Silicone Membranes

Natural organisms use a combination of contracting muscles and inextensible fibers to transform into controllable shapes, camouflage into their surrounding environment, and catch prey. Replicating these capabilities with engineered materials is challenging because of the difficulty in manufacturing and controlling soft material actuators with embedded fibers. In addition, while linear and bending motions are common in soft actuators, rotary motions require three-dimensional fiber wrapping or multiple bending or linear elements working in coordination that are challenging to design and fabricate. In this work, an automatic embroidery machine patterned Kevlar™ fibers and stretchable optical fibers into inflatable silicone membranes to control their inflated shape and enable sensing. This embroidery-based fabrication technique is simple, low cost, and allows for precise and custom patterning of fibers in elastomers. Using this technique, we developed inflatable elastomeric actuators embedded with a planar spiral pattern of high-strength Kevlar™ fibers that inflate into radially symmetric shapes and achieve nearly 180° angular rotation and 10 cm linear displacement.

scholarly journals BPActuators: Lightweight and Low-Cost Soft Actuators by Balloons and Plastics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiukai Qi ◽  
Shogo Yoshida ◽  
Genki Kakihana ◽  
Takuma Torii ◽  
Van Anh Ho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Soft Actuators

Model-Based Hybrid Cooperative Control of Hip-Knee Exoskeleton and FES Induced Ankle Muscles for Gait Rehabilitation

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (09) ◽  
pp. 1759019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xikai Tu ◽  
Jiaxin Li ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Chen Su ◽  
Shali Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Cooperative Control ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Plantar Flexion ◽  
Intensive Therapy ◽  
Gait Training ◽  
Ankle Muscles ◽  
Highly Nonlinear ◽  
Ankle Exoskeleton ◽  
The Cost

To regain mobility, stroke patients need to receive repetitive and intensive therapy. Robot-assisted rehabilitation is an active area of research. Cheap robotic leg rehabilitation devices should be developed to meet the demands and assist most patients. A low cost hip-knee exoskeleton prototype powered by pneumatic muscles was developed. On this basis, Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) induced paralyzed muscles to realize ankle joint rehabilitation training. These three ankle muscles: the tibialis anterior, the soleus, and the gastrocnemius under electrical stimulation cooperated together to realize optimally coordinated control of dorsiflexion and plantar-flexion movement. As both of pneumatic muscle and FES induced muscle possess highly nonlinear characteristics, a sliding control algorithm called Chattering mitigation Robust Variable Control (CRVC) was applied to leg hybrid rehabilitation. The combination of exoskeleton and FES is a promising way to reduce the cost and the complexity of designing hip-knee-ankle exoskeleton. The proposed hybrid method was verified by treadmill-based gait training experiments.

scholarly journals A Dual-origami  Design Enables the Quasi-sequential Deployment and Bending  Motion of Soft Robots and Grippers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woongbae Kim ◽  
Jaemin Eom ◽  
Kyujin Cho
Keyword(s):  
Fused Deposition Modeling ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Soft Robots ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Sealing Performance ◽  
Fluidic Actuators ◽  
Deposition Modeling ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
Design Guidance

Soft fluidic actuators produce continuous and life-like motions that are intrinsically safe, but current designs are not yet mature enough to enable large deployment with high force and low-cost fabrication methods. Here, soft fluidic actuators with two superimposed origami architectures are reported. Driven by a fluid input, the presented dual-origami soft actuators produce quasi-sequential deployment and bending motion that is guided by unsymmetric unfolding of low-stretchable origami components. The dominance between the deployment and bending can be shifted by varying the unfolding behavior, enabling pre-programming of the motion. The proposed origami-inspired soft actuators are directly fabricated by low-cost fused deposition modeling 3D-printing, and subjected to a heat treatment post-processing to enhance the fluid sealing performance. Finally, soft gripper applications are presented and they successfully demonstrate gripping tasks that each requires strength, delicacy, precision and dexterity. The dual-origami approach offers a design guidance for soft robots to embody grow-and-retract motion with a small initial form factor, promising for applications in next-generation soft robotic systems.

Design of Low-Cost Soft Angle Exoskeleton Using Soft Actuators

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Kathan Rajesh Sonar ◽  
S. Sai Sudeep Reddy ◽  
Daniel Schilberg ◽  
Arockia Selvakumar Arockia Doss
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Soft Actuators

scholarly journals A Soft Exoskeleton Glove for Hand Bilateral Training via Surface EMG

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 578
Author(s):  
Yumiao Chen ◽  
Zhongliang Yang ◽  
Yangliang Wen
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Model ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Surface Emg ◽  
Geometrical Parameters ◽  
Motion Patterns ◽  
Hand Motion ◽  
Model Combining ◽  
Bilateral Training ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
Semg Signals

Traditional rigid exoskeletons can be challenging to the comfort of wearers and can have large pressure, which can even alter natural hand motion patterns. In this paper, we propose a low-cost soft exoskeleton glove (SExoG) system driven by surface electromyography (sEMG) signals from non-paretic hand for bilateral training. A customization method of geometrical parameters of soft actuators was presented, and their structure was redesigned. Then, the corresponding pressure values of air-pump to generate different angles of actuators were determined to support four hand motions (extension, rest, spherical grip, and fist). A two-step hybrid model combining the neural network and the state exclusion algorithm was proposed to recognize four hand motions via sEMG signals from the healthy limb. Four subjects were recruited to participate in the experiments. The experimental results show that the pressure values for the four hand motions were about −2, 0, 40, and 70 KPa, and the hybrid model can yield a mean accuracy of 98.7% across four hand motions. It can be concluded that the novel SExoG system can mirror the hand motions of non-paretic hand with good performance.

scholarly journals A Dual-origami  Design Enables the Quasi-sequential Deployment and Bending  Motion of Soft Robots and Grippers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woongbae Kim ◽  
Jaemin Eom ◽  
Kyujin Cho
Keyword(s):  
Fused Deposition Modeling ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Soft Robots ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Sealing Performance ◽  
Fluidic Actuators ◽  
Deposition Modeling ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
Design Guidance

Soft fluidic actuators produce continuous and life-like motions that are intrinsically safe, but current designs are not yet mature enough to enable large deployment with high force and low-cost fabrication methods. Here, soft fluidic actuators with two superimposed origami architectures are reported. Driven by a fluid input, the presented dual-origami soft actuators produce quasi-sequential deployment and bending motion that is guided by unsymmetric unfolding of low-stretchable origami components. The dominance between the deployment and bending can be shifted by varying the unfolding behavior, enabling pre-programming of the motion. The proposed origami-inspired soft actuators are directly fabricated by low-cost fused deposition modeling 3D-printing, and subjected to a heat treatment post-processing to enhance the fluid sealing performance. Finally, soft gripper applications are presented and they successfully demonstrate gripping tasks that each requires strength, delicacy, precision and dexterity. The dual-origami approach offers a design guidance for soft robots to embody grow-and-retract motion with a small initial form factor, promising for applications in next-generation soft robotic systems.

scholarly journals A novel mode controllable hybrid valve pressure control method for soft robotic gripper

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 172988141880214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiming Huang ◽  
Linyuan Wu ◽  
Junhao Lin ◽  
Bin Fang ◽  
Fuchun Sun
Keyword(s):  
Control Method ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Pressure Control ◽  
Proportional Valve ◽  
Pneumatic Control ◽  
Control Scheme ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
Valve Pressure

Compared with traditional rigid gripper with joint-linkage structure, novel soft robotic gripper gives rise to continuous concern for the advantages of no-damage grasping, convenient manufacture, easy control, and low cost. In this study, we design and built two kinds of soft robotic grippers with four fiber-reinforced soft actuators which are distributed in circular and rectangle shapes for single and twin contacts grasping. A novel hybrid valve pneumatic control scheme combining proportional and solenoid valves is proposed. Also, a mode controllable hybrid valve pressure control method is proposed to adjust internal pressure of soft robotic grippers to adapt to different grasping tasks. The experiment results verify that the performances of hybrid valve outperform those of individual proportional valve or solenoid valve in the aspects of response time and steady-state accuracy. The hybrid valve has wide range of pressure regulation, result in that the soft robotic grippers are qualified to grasp various objects with different shapes, sizes, and weights.

scholarly journals A Novel Computer-Controlled Maskless Fabrication Process for Pneumatic Soft Actuators

Actuators ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Luke J. Tinsley ◽  
Russell A. Harris
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Selective Treatment ◽  
Pneumatic Chamber ◽  
Design Variation ◽  
Chemical Behaviour ◽  
Computer Controlled ◽  
Manufacturing Techniques ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
And Control

Template-based and additive manufacturing techniques have demonstrated some fabrication routes for creating pneumatic soft actuators. However, as the complexity and capability of the actuators continue to develop, the limitations of these approaches are becoming evident. These include difficulties for design variations, process speed and resolution, material compatibility and scalability, which hinder and restrict both the possible capabilities of the technology and its transition from research to industry. This body of work presents a computer-controlled, maskless manufacturing process with a different approach to allow for high-speed, low-cost and flexible creation of pneumatic soft actuation networks comprising multi-material construction. This was investigated through a bespoke fabrication platform that provides computer-controlled localised plasma treatment to selectively modify the chemical behaviour on the surface of silicone and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bodies. The altered surface chemistry facilitated selective bond formation between the treated parts of the surface and, consequently, greater design variation and control over the pneumatic chambers that were formed. Selective treatment patterns allowed nonlinear pneumatic chamber designs to be created, and the strength of bonded silicone structures was shown to facilitate large deformations in the actuators. Furthermore, the different interactions between the plasma and silicone were leveraged to achieve feature sizes of <1 mm and treatment speeds of 20 mm2 per second of exposure. Two multi-material pneumatic soft actuators were then fabricated to demonstrate the potential of the platform as an automated manufacturing route for soft actuators.

scholarly journals Design Methodology for a Novel Bending Pneumatic Soft Actuator for Kinematically Mirroring the Shape of Objects

Actuators ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Michele Gabrio Antonelli ◽  
Pierluigi Beomonte Zobel ◽  
Walter D’Ambrogio ◽  
Francesco Durante
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
Hyper Elastic ◽  
End Effectors ◽  
Soft Actuators ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Advanced Robotics ◽  
Collaborative Robot

In the landscape of Industry 4.0, advanced robotics awaits a growing use of bioinspired adaptive and flexible robots. Collaborative robotics meets this demand. Due to human–robot coexistence and interaction, the safety, the first requirement to be satisfied, also depends on the end effectors. End effectors made of soft actuators satisfy this requirement. A novel pneumatic bending soft actuator with high compliance, low cost, high versatility and easy production is here proposed. Conceived to be used as a finger of a collaborative robot, it is made of a hyper-elastic inner tube wrapped in a gauze. The bending is controlled by cuts in the gauze: the length and the angular extension of them, the pressure value and the dimensions of the inner tube determine the bending amplitude and avoid axial elongation. A design methodology, oriented to kinematically mirror the shape of the object to be grasped, was defined. Firstly, it consists of the development of a non-linear parametric numerical model of a bioinspired finger; then, the construction of a prototype for the experimental validation of the numerical model was performed. Hence, a campaign of simulations led to the definition of a qualitatively predictive formula, the basis for the design methodology. The effectiveness of the latter was evaluated for a real case: an actuator for the grasping of a light bulb was designed and experimentally tested.

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