DEVELOPMENT OF POWERED SUIT FOR ASSISTING NURSE CARRING PATIENT

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Powered suit developed in this project is to support muscular force of a attendant nurse in the sepuential operation of holding up and down of a patient. The powered suit consists of shoulders, arms, waist and legs, and is fitted on the nurse to transmit the force directly to the arms, waist and legs of the nurse. The powered suit is originated with the concept of master and slave system in one body.Four kinds of sensors to detect the motion of the arms, waist and legs of the nurse were developed, i.e., a sensing cuff, a strain gauge, a strain sensor made with conductive rubber and a pneumatic muscle hardness sensor. Two kinds of rotary actuator to rotate the joins of the elbow, waist and knee were developed, i.e., pneumatic rubber tube rotary actuator and pneumatic sliding boxes rotary actuator. These pneumatic actuators have the advantages of simple structure, compact size, light weight, has possibility to realize smooth movement with tender touch.Experiments proved that the powered suit using the sliding boxes rotary actuators and the muscle sensors has feasibility and is able to be adopted as the prototype for practical equipment.