A Vacuum-Powered Artificial Muscle Designed for Infant Rehabilitation
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The majority of soft pneumatic actuators for rehabilitation exercises have been designed for adult users. Specifically, there is a paucity of soft rehabilitative devices designed for infants with upper and lower limb motor disabilities. We present a low-profile vacuum-powered artificial muscle (LP-VPAM) with dimensions suitable for infants. The actuator produced a maximum force of 26 N at vacuum pressures of −40 kPa. When implemented in an experimental model of an infant leg in an antagonistic-agonist configuration to measure resultant knee flexion, the actuator generated knee flexion angles of 43° and 61° in the prone and side-lying position, respectively.
Date issued
2021-08Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical EngineeringJournal
Micromachines
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Micromachines 12 (8): 971 (2021)
Version: Final published version
ISSN
2072-666X