Study on trunk posture support device utilizing variable stiffness characteristics by pneumatic soft actuator

Abstract

Kyphosis causes decline in respiratory and circulatory functions owing to compresses of internal organs. The purpose of this study is to develop a posture keep assist device. The device is constructed with multiple resin components and McKibben type artificial rubber muscle. This device at initial state has a flexibility because the resin components are separated. On the other hand, the resin component can be connected by pressurized artificial muscle. The shape of device in which all resin components are connected imitates spine-curve to fit human back. So, the proposed device can retain entire range of trunk. Target pressure to correct posture is determined from the mathematical model of artificial muscle. In this paper, the structure of device is described, and control method to retain posture based on artificial muscle model is discussed. Finally, effectiveness of the device is verified from experiments in which subject wears this device actually. We reveal correcting trunk posture by using the device from the results.