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

在过去的几十年里，已经进行了大量的研究，为截肢者，退伍军人和那些天生有缺陷或肢体缺失的人开发合适的假肢，以帮助他们完成日常任务。尽管迄今为止进行了努力和研究，但目前的假肢缺乏力和触觉反馈，并且具有非常有限的抓握能力，使得它们难以使用并且令人沮丧。这个博士项目将探索和开发基于纳米复合材料和仿生结构的软触觉传感器和软执行器。制造的软系统的性能将进一步研究实验和计算。将研究软传感器和致动器无缝集成的不同策略，以开发能够提供更“人性化”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的假肢手。

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.