Assistive Soft Robotic Glove with Ruffles Enhanced Textile Actuators

TL;DR

This paper introduces a soft textile robotic glove with pneumatic actuators and ruffles technique, enhancing hand assistance in rehabilitation and daily activities while ensuring safety, comfort, and high performance.

Contribution

The novel textile glove integrates pneumatic actuators with ruffles technique, offering improved force and bending capabilities for assistive hand robotics.

Findings

High blocking force achieved by actuators

Effective hand bending demonstrated in participant study

Lightweight and safe design confirmed

Abstract

Hand-wearable robots, specifically exoskeletons, are designed to aid hands in daily activities, playing a crucial role in post-stroke rehabilitation and assisting the elderly. Our contribution to this field is a textile robotic glove with integrated actuators. These actuators, powered by pneumatic pressure, guide the user's hand to a desired position. Crafted from textile materials, our soft robotic glove prioritizes safety, lightweight construction, and user comfort. Utilizing the ruffles technique, integrated actuators guarantee high performance in blocking force and bending effectiveness. Additionally, we present a participant study confirming the effectiveness of our robotic device.