《Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice》 ›› 2021, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (6): 627-636.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-9771.2021.00.002

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Advance in Flexible Variable Stiffness Actuator of Rehabilitation Robot (review)

Sheng LU1,2,Bing-shan HU1,2(),Ke CHENG1,2,Hong-liu YU1,2,Wei NI1,2   

  1. 1.Institute of Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
    2.University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Assistive Devices, Shanghai 200093, China
  • Received:2020-11-20 Revised:2020-11-30 Published:2021-06-25 Online:2021-06-21
  • Contact: Bing-shan HU E-mail:hubingshan@usst.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Key R&D Program of China(2020YFC2005804);Shanghai Natural Science Fund(20ZR1437800)

Abstract:

Flexible variable stiffness actuator is divided into four categories including elastic element, pneumatic element, electric-magnetic element and intelligent material. It is gradually applied in rehabilitation robot. It could adapt the change of patient's impedance in the upper and lower limb rehabilitation robots, ensure the safety of the wearer in the exoskeleton, and improve the biomimetics in the prosthesis. Variable stiffness driving mechanism for rehabilitation robot still has some disadvantages. It is proposed to have compact structure, low power consumption, good stiffness characteristics, high response rate and progressive output torque curve, etc.

Key words: variable stiffness, flexiblity, rehabilitation robot, review

CLC Number: