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Development of Medical Care Assist Bed using Pneumatic Planar Soft Actuator
Toshiro Noritsugu*, Daisuke Sasaki*, Seij i Matsuo*,**, Ikuo Kusunoki*,*** and Yuuki Mitsumine*
*Okayama University, 3-1-1, Tsushimanaka, Okayama, 700-8530 Japan
**SYNFORM CO., LTD. 10-1, Takayanagi-Higashimachi, Okayama, 700-0034 Japan
***Information Communication Engineer, Kobe Steel, Ltd. 10-26, Wakihamacho 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyougo, 651-8585 Japan
Received:May 22, 2002Accepted:August 20, 2002Published:December 20, 2002
Keywords:welfare, bedsore, medical care bed, pneumatic, soft actuator
Abstract
Bedridden persons often have a bedsore, which causes pain to the patient. Then, it is important to prevent from a bedsore. In this study, for prevention from a bedsore, a medical care assist bed using a pneumatic planar soft actuator constructed with rubber balls has been developed. This actuator can carry an object by generating a traveling wave by controlling the inner pressure of balls. In addition, owing to the flexibility of the mechanism, this actuator can carry a fragile object without a complicated control method. In this paper, the structure and operational principle of the actuator is described, and then the principle of both the change of bedridden human body position and the adjustment of pressure distribution between the body and the bed is described. Finally, their effects are experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that this bed can adjust the contact pressure with the human body. Therefore, the effective of this bed to prevent from a bedsore is confirmed.
Cite this article as:T. Noritsugu, D. Sasaki, S. Matsuo, I. Kusunoki, and Y. Mitsumine, “Development of Medical Care Assist Bed using Pneumatic Planar Soft Actuator,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.14 No.6, pp. 547-556, 2002.Data files:
Copyright© 2002 by Fuji Technology Press Ltd. and Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All right reserved.
