Wearable Soft Actuators with Integrated Tactile Sensors for Feedback Grip of Medical Prosthesis

在过去的几十年里，人们进行了大量的研究，以开发适合截肢者、退伍军人和天生有缺陷或缺失肢体的人的假肢，以帮助他们完成日常任务。尽管到目前为止已经进行了很多努力和研究，但目前的假肢缺乏力量和触觉反馈，握持能力非常有限，这使得它们很难使用，也让人气馁。这个博士项目将探索和开发基于纳米复合材料和生物灵感结构的软触觉传感器和软执行器。制造的软件系统的性能将通过实验和计算进行进一步的研究。将研究软测量和执行器无缝集成的不同策略，以开发能够提供更像人类一样的行为的软手指，以防止更脆弱的物体滑动或断裂。然后，该项目将研究如何使用数字制造工具来开发全尺寸假手。

Over the last few decades, a lot of research has been conducted to develop suitable prosthetics for amputees, veterans and those born with defects or missing limbs, to aid them in daily tasks. Despite the efforts and research carried out to date, the current prosthetics lack force and tactile feedback and have very limited gripping abilities, making them difficult and discouraging to use. This PhD project will explore and develop soft tactile sensors and soft actuators based on nanocomposite materials and bioinspired structures. The performance of the manufactured soft systems will be further investigated both experimentally and computationally. Different strategies for the seamless integration of soft sensors and actuators will be examined to develop soft fingers capable of delivering a more 'human-like' behaviour for preventing slippage or breaking of more fragile objects. Then, the project will look into how digital manufacturing tools can be used to develop a full-scale prosthetic hand.