A vacuum-powered artificial muscle designed for infant rehabilitation

Mendoza M.J.; Gollob S.D.; Lavado D.; Koo B.H.B.; Cruz S.; Roche E.T.; Vela E.A. · Micromachines (2021) · DOI: 10.3390/mi12080971

Resumen

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.

Instituciones: Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología