Improvement of McKibben Artificial Muscle with Long Stroke Motion and Its Application

概要

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The actuators required for a wearable system need to be flexible so as not to injure the body. The purpose of this study is to develop a flexible and lightweight actuator which can be safe enough to be attached to the human body. In the previous study, a new type of McKibben artificial muscle that had a long stroke of more than 80 % of its original length was proposed and tested. However, the damages on the tube of the actuator were found. They are caused by a large friction between the slide stage and the tube. Therefore, the life time of the actuator becomes shorter. In this paper, the improved McKibben actuator which consists of a McKibben artificial muscle on the market (FESTO Co. Ltd.), steel balls as a cylinder head and two pairs of slide stages is proposed and tested. The slide stage has steel balls set on the inner bore of the stage to decrease the friction. The steel ball in the McKibben actuator is held by two pairs of slide stages from both sides of the ball. As a result, the minimum driving pressure of the improved actuator decreases about 68 % compared with that of the previous one. The actuator can realize both pushing and pulling motion even if it has flexibility. By using these properties of the actuator, the various rehabilitation devices were proposed and tested.