柔軟空気圧アクチュエータの開発とウェアラブル制御機器への応用

抄録

Based on an aging society and chronic lack of physical therapists in Japan, a rehabilitation device that can recover physical ability of elderly after injuring temporally is required. In ideal, it is better that the patient can use the rehabilitation device without special knowledge at home. In addition, the device must be produced at low-cost so that patients can buy them by themselves without financial support from the government. Therefore, the actuators used in such a home rehabilitation need to be flexible so as not to injure the human body. The compact and light-weight control devices such as a valve, an actuator and a sensor are also required. In this study, an pneumatic soft actuator is introduced. It is a novel flexible pneumatic cylinder that can be used even if the cylinder is deformed by external forces. A flexible wearable robot arm and a portable spherical actuator using flexible pneumatic cylinders for a rehabilitation device of human wrist and arm are also introduced. In addition, various low-cost built-in position sensors for soft actuator and soft mechanisum are introduced. Small-sized and low-cost control valves using vibration motor and buckled tubes for wearable driving system will alos be introduced.