Technologies

PAGE SUMMARY

Wearable exoskeletal technology remains a challenging task despite advances in sensing, actuation, and fabrication techniques. It can be used in the military for strength augmentation, the medical field for rehabilitation, and commercially for gaming and human computer interaction. The hand provides a unique platform for this technology because of its anatomical complexity. Previous research in hand exoskeleton interfaces utilize bulky actuation methods and require range-limiting tethers to a computer and or power source. These technologies are both uncomfortable and impractical for extended everyday use. This has prevented similar technologies from successfully reaching the commercial, academic and medical fields. A team of Drexel researchers has developed an untethered soft exoskeletal system that is not bound by these constraints. Using computer controlled knitting technology and novel on-arm tendon actuation methods, they are able to fabricate devices in a manner that is both customizable and mass-producible.