Design and Characterization of Low-Cost Soft Pneumatic Bending Actuator for Hand Rehabilitation

Abstract

In an assistive device such as hard exoskeleton hand, there are some disadvantages, such as hard to align with the user's finger, still solid / rigid form that allows a broken part when colliding with other solid/hard objects. In this research, soft Pneumatic Bending Actuators (PBA) are developed as wearable robot based on soft robot technology for hand rehabilitation or assistive device. The proposed soft PBA uses pressurized air chamber in the silicon rubber material performing a bending motion for supporting the flexion/extension motion of the human finger when it is worn by human hand. Selected low-cost RTV (Room-Temperature-Vulcanizing) Silicone will be used to build a soft PBA. The PBA mold is designed using CAD software and printed using 3D print. The prototype of the PBA will be tested by giving air pressure and acquiring the bending angle response. Based on the test results, the bending angle on the soft PBA shows that the bending angle of unattached PBA on the human finger has higher bending angle than the PBA attached on the human finger.