Soft hand exoskeleton with three-dimensional printed soft pneumatic actuators

Rejec, Mija (author), Lebar, Andrej (author), Lampe, Tomaž (author)

The hand is an extremely complex organ, so restoring its function presents a challenge. There are various types of orthoses prescribed for impairments. Hand exoskeletons are intended to improve the function. They consist of a static base and dynamic components. The latter include actuators, most often rigid ones, such as electric motors. While the systems they employ are powerful and precise within a limited range of motion, they have numerous shortcomings, which can be circumvented by incorporating insights from soft robotics into orthosis design. Soft actuators can be manufactured, typically inspired by muscles. Their operation depends on supplied energy, design geometry, and material properties. Due to their characteristics, they are suitable for numerous applications across different fields, including orthotics and prosthetics. We developed a prototype orthosis consisting of a static base and a functional part, incorporating dynamic components. The static base was assembled from 3D-printed components. The functional part includes cable pulls, 3D-printed soft pneumatic actuators and a compressor. The most important dynamic components are the actuators. We printed various models and tested them. They achieve different maximum forces and contractions, with their operation influenced by several factors. The resulting hand exoskeleton has many characteristics of a good medical device; however, it has several, albeit solvable, shortcomings. Both the static base and the actuators need improvement, as the latter are not yet powerful enough for practical use, but adequately demonstrate the orthosis's operating principle.

• Language: English
• Keywords: orthotics, hand exoskeleton, soft robotics, soft pneumatic actuators, 3D printing
• Work type: Other
• Typology: 1.08 - Published Scientific Conference Contribution
• Organization: ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences; FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 42-52
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-163187
• UDC: 615.477:617.3
• DOI: 10.55295/PSL.11.2024.5
• COBISS.SI-ID: 206501123
• Publication date in RUL: 03.10.2024

Record is a part of a monograph

• Title: Socratic Lectures : 11th international symposium, Ljubljana, 8. June 2024
• Editors: Veronika Kralj-Iglič, Yelena Istileulova, Anna Romolo
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: University of Ljubljana Press
• Year: 2024
• ISBN: 978-961-297-383-4
• COBISS.SI-ID: 205044227

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.