Paper:
Development of Active Support Splint Driven by Pneumatic Soft Actuator (ASSIST)
Daisuke Sasaki, Toshiro Noritsugu, and Masahiro Takaiwa
Faculty of Engineering, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushimanaka, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
In this study, in order to realize an assist of independent life for the elderly or people in need of care and relieve a physical burden for care worker, an active support splint driven by pneumatic soft actuator (ASSIST) has been developed. ASSIST consists of a plastic interface with the palm and arm and two rotary-type soft actuators put in both sides of appliance. McKibben type pneumatic rubber muscles are on the both sides of rotary-type soft actuators for relieving a restrained feeling when the device is not operated. In this paper, the structure of ASSIST is described, and then the effectiveness of this splint is experimentally discussed based on the experiments for movable range assist for the wrist.
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Copyright© 2004 by Fuji Technology Press Ltd. and Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All right reserved.