Soft robotic suits: State of the art, core technologies and open challenges

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current state, core technologies, and challenges of soft robotic suits, emphasizing their potential for human assistance and the need for further technological advancements.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive taxonomy, critical analysis of actuation and interface methods, and discusses future research directions in soft robotic suits.

Findings

Soft robotic suits enable effective human motor assistance.

Different actuation and interface strategies have unique advantages and limitations.

Further development is needed to overcome current technological challenges.

Abstract

Wearable robots are undergoing a disruptive transition, from the rigid machines that populated the science-fiction world in the early eighties to lightweight robotic apparel, hardly distinguishable from our daily clothes. In less than a decade of development, soft robotic suits have achieved important results in human motor assistance and augmentation. In this paper, we start by giving a definition of soft robotic suits and proposing a taxonomy to classify existing systems. We then critically review the modes of actuation, the physical human-robot interface and the intention-detection strategies of state of the art soft robotic suits, highlighting the advantages and limitations of different approaches. Finally, we discuss the impact of this new technology on human movements, for both augmenting human function and supporting motor impairments, and identify areas that are in need of further development.