Analysis of Forces Exerted by Shoulder and Elbow Fabric-Based Pneumatic Actuators for Pediatric Exosuits

To enhance pediatric exosuit design, it is crucial to assess the actuator-generated forces. This work evaluates the contact forces exerted by soft fabric-based pneumatic actuators in an upper extremity pediatric exosuit. Two actuators were examined: a single-cell bidirectional actuator for shoulder abduction/adduction and a bellow-type actuator for elbow extension/flexion. Experiments assessed the impact of actuator anchoring points and the adjacent joint's angle on exerted forces and actuated joint range of motion (ROM). These were measured via load cells and encoders integrated into a custom infant-scale engineered apparatus with two degrees of freedom (two revolute joints). For the shoulder actuator, results show that anchoring it further from the shoulder joint center while the elbow is flexed at 90° yields the highest ROM while minimizing the peak force exerted on the body. For the elbow actuator, anchoring it symmetrically while the shoulder joint is at 0° optimizes actuator performance. These findings contribute a key step toward co-optimizing the considered exosuit design for functionality and wearability.