Research on Design and Experiment of a Wearable Hand Rehabilitation Device Driven by Fiber-Reinforced Soft Actuator

Fiber-reinforced soft actuators have great poten- tial for the development of wearable technology. However, its complex structural design, nonlinear soft material body, fluid- driven dynamics and high manufacturing costs have brought huge challenges to system modeling, control and application. To improve this situation, a novel fiber-reinforced soft actuator is designed and analyzed. First, a wearable hand rehabilitation device based on fiber-reinforced soft actuators with three-air- chamber structure is designed. Next, using Yeoh model and principle of virtual work, we establish a bending mathematical model of the soft actuator, whose input parameters are air pressure P and winding number N, and output parameter is bending angle β. Finally, through the finite element analysis, the optimal N is obtained, and the correctness of the model is verified. To verify the above research, an experimental platform is constructed. The results show that the relative error of the model is in an acceptable state. The device can imitate common gestures, easily grasp objects with a volume of 1.6 dm3 and mass of 335.7 g, which can realize the hand rehabilitation training.