Flexible film soft mechanism with folding structure

Abstract

Hypertension is a lifestyle-related disease with the largest number of affected people, and in Japan, which is progressing toward a super-aging society, the management of blood pressure to prevent hypertension should be emphasized. In this study, we aimed to realize continuous home healthcare, and while developing a more compact sphygmomanometer, we needed a mechanism with high rigidity. Therefore, we focus on the mechanism of variable stiffness using negative pressure, and propose a structure that is very flexible with low stiffness when not pressurized, and can be increased to high stiffness when pressurized. Furthermore, we propose a compact and flattened folding structure by exhausting the air in the soft actuator when it is not pressurized, and verify its effectiveness through basic experiments.