Origami-structured Actuating Modules for Upper Limb Support

Abstract

Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) based on inherently compliant materials have been developed by integrating with a fabric, a fiber reinforcement, or applying origami patterns. However, the fabric and fiber-reinforced SPAs are limited by the relatively large volumes of air needed to achieve the desired motions, and conventional 'origami-structured' SPAs based on simple paper folding may not be durable and provide limited force. In this letter, an origami-structured actuating module fabricated by embedding a rigid origami structure in a fabric, which is applicable to any origami patterns including Yoshimura, Waterbomb, and so on, was proposed to improve durability and supporting force. Specially, the Yoshimura pattern-based origami-structured actuating module was analytically modeled to determine the design parameters of the actuating module so that it can provide enough supporting force and range of motion of the upper limb. A wearable system with the optimized origami-structured actuating module, which is durable, adaptable, and capable of supporting the upper limb motion, was developed to assist the upper limb without interfering natural movements.