A Compact Soft Robotic Wrist Brace With Origami Actuators

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Robotics
• Rehabilitation Technology

Background:

• Wrist disabilities significantly impair daily activities.
• Soft robotic wearable rehabilitation devices offer advantages in flexibility, cost, and comfort over conventional methods.
• Self-rehabilitation devices are increasingly popular for convenience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a compact, low-profile soft robotic wrist brace.
• To integrate soft origami-patterned actuators onto a commercial wrist brace.
• To enable wrist rehabilitation for extension/flexion and ulnar/radial deviation.

Main Methods:

• Designed and fabricated a soft robotic wrist brace by integrating eight soft origami-patterned actuators.
• Actuators made of ethylene-vinyl acetate via blow molding for mass production, low cost, and high repeatability.
• Constrained actuator extensions by brace fabrics to derive wrist joint motions.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the design and fabrication of the soft robotic wrist brace.
• Conducted experiments on range of motion, output force, and wearing adaptivity.
• Evaluated performance under disturbance, showing promising results.

Conclusions:

• The proposed soft robotic wrist brace offers effective wrist rehabilitation.
• The modular soft actuator approach has broad application potential in wearable devices.
• This technology enhances patient capability in performing activities of daily living.