"With the coming of an aging society, more and more elderly people suffering from strokes and other age-related disabilities are in need of care, so researchers are now developing different technologies, devices and robots to help nurses," wrote Hashimoto.
Currently, a joint research team has developed a wearable robot that supports the hip joint while walking, a study team led by Minoru Hashimoto, a textile science and technology professor at Shinshu University in Japan, and published in Smart Materials and Structures on.
Wearable robot
Hashimoto pointed out that at present, several technologies designed to assist people in walking are a drag on the user. "In our current research, we aimed to develop a lightweight, soft and wearable auxiliary fabric to help those muscles Degraded and handicapped seniors. '
The wearable system consists of plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) glue, grid electrode and applied voltage, and the grid electrode grips the glue, which can contract and bend like a muscle when voltage is applied.
'We think that the electro-mechanical properties of PVC glue can be applied to mechanical muscles, so we started to study PVC glue,' says Hashimoto. "Applying voltage to PVC glue is especially important for high-speed motion, 100-volt case of high-speed movement.
In a preliminary study, a half-paralyzed stroke patient walked without wearing the device and wearing the device.
'We found that this aid can help him perform normal exercise, increase the step size and reduce muscle activity during straight walking,' wrote Hashimoto, who also found that changing the auxiliary function of the aid by adjusting the voltage magnitude Next, the researchers planned to use PVC glue to prepare a linear aid for the development of an external muscle-assisting fabric that would be easier to control.