Design and prototyping of a novel lightweight walking assist wear using PVC gel soft actuators
Design and prototyping of a novel lightweight walking assist wear using PVC gel soft actuators
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DOI：
10.1016/j.sna.2016.01.017
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发表时间：
2016-03-01
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Hashimoto, Minoru
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Li, Yi;Hashimoto, Minoru
需要创新的技术来支持老年人的日常活动，减轻老龄化社会中沉重的护理负担。而软驱动器技术应该是发展软驱动器技术的关键问题之一。我们用增塑聚氯乙烯(PVC)凝胶研制了一种软执行器，它具有柔软轻便、在空气中稳定、输出高、响应率高、功耗低、无噪音等优点。在这项研究中，我们应用聚氯乙烯凝胶软驱动器来开发一种新型的轻量化步行辅助穿戴，用于老年人的日常生活支持。我们利用执行器的收缩和伸缩运动和生成力来提供帮助。我们在鞋垫中集成了一些力传感器来检测行走过程中的步态变化。本文设计、制造了一台样机，并对其性能进行了评价。样机质量约0.6公斤，输出力约94N(相当于空载行走时髋部名义生物力矩的10%以上)，功耗约1.6W。所提出的辅助佩戴具有结构简单、重量轻、柔韧性高、佩戴和取下方便等优点，是一种用于日常生活步行辅助的可行性。(三)2016年。爱思唯尔B.V.版权所有。
Innovative technologies are needed to support the daily activities of elderly people and to lighten the heavy burden of nursing in the aging society. And the technology of soft actuators should be one of the key issues for developing such technologies. We have developed a soft actuator using the plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gel which has many positive characteristics, such as being soft and lightweight, having a stable actuation in the air with a high output, a notable response rate, a low power consumption and no noise. In this study, we applied the PVC gel soft actuators to develop a novel lightweight walking assist wear for a daily life support of the elderly people. We used the contraction and expansion movement and generation force of the actuators to provide the assistance. And we used some force sensors integrated in the insoles to detect the gait changes during walking. A prototype was designed, fabricated and the characteristics were evaluated in this paper. The prototype has a mass of about 0.6 kg, with an output force about 94 N (corresponding to torque of over 10% of the nominal biological moment at the hip during unloaded walking), a power consumption of about 1.6W. The proposed assist wear has the advantages of a simple structure, light weight, high flexibility and easy to put on and take off which indicate the feasibility to use for a daily life walking assistance. (C) 2016. Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.