Año: 2021
Autores:
Resumen: Robotic devices applied to a rehabilitation context require a deeper understanding of their actuators to delimit the device’s capabilities, improve the control strategies, and enhance the human–robot interaction. This way, experimental characterizations have allowed estimating these aspects, either employing test bench structures or involving the user during the process. In terms of pneumatic actuators, the goal of the experimental characterization is to find the required pressure that generates the full bending and the bending and blocked forces. On the other hand, for variable stiffness actuators, the goal is to measure the system response and the interaction forces concerning the variation in the device setup. In this context, this chapter presents the experimental characterization of two actuators aimed at assistive applications: (1) a variable stiffness ankle exoskeleton and (2) a pneumatic hand exoskeleton. Thus, different test bench structures were developed to integrate the device’s concepts, measure the device’s capabilities, and determine the system responses. Finally, some devices based on soft actuators applied to clinical scenarios are also presented in this chapter.