Center for Micro-BioRobotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Pontedera, PI, Italy.
Department of Advanced Robotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1170:69-85. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-24230-5_3.
Soft exoskeletons hold promise for facilitating monitoring and assistance in case of light impairment and for prolonging independent living. In contrast to rigid material-based exoskeletons, they strongly demand for new approaches of soft sensing and actuation solutions. This chapter overviews soft exoskeletons in contrast to rigid exoskeletons and focuses on the recent advancements on the movement monitoring in lower limb soft exoskeletons. Compliant materials and soft tactile sensing approaches can be utilized to build smart sensorized garments for joint angle measurements (needed for both control and monitoring). However, currently there are still several open challenges derived from the needed close interaction between the human body and the soft exoskeleton itself, especially related to how sensing function and robustness are strongly affected by wearability, which will need to be overcome in the near future.
软体外骨骼有望在轻度损伤的监测和辅助以及延长独立生活方面发挥作用。与基于刚性材料的外骨骼相比，它们强烈需要新的软感测和驱动解决方案方法。本章概述了软体外骨骼与刚性外骨骼的对比，并重点介绍了下肢软体外骨骼运动监测方面的最新进展。柔顺材料和软触觉感测方法可用于构建用于关节角度测量的智能传感器服装（这对于控制和监测都是必需的）。然而，目前仍然存在一些来自人体与软体外骨骼本身之间需要紧密交互的开放性挑战，特别是与感测功能和稳健性如何受到可穿戴性强烈影响相关的挑战，这些挑战将需要在不久的将来得到克服。
