Development of pneumatic distributor for soft actuator of wearable suit

With an aging society, research into wearable suits to support the elderly is actively being conducted. While these suits can use various driving methods, such as motors, pneumatics, and wires, many researchers prefer pneumatic-based soft actuators due to their high degree of safety and low weight. However, the use of a valve in these actuators is essential and requires high-precision control techniques and periodic replacement. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a low-cost pneumatic distributor design for pneumatic-based soft actuators. The advantage of the proposed pneumatic distributor is that it can be easily controlled by continuously adjusting the rotation speed according to the walking cycle of an elderly person. In addition, it is easy to design a pneumatic distributor suitable for the walking characteristics of the elderly, and costs can be kept low by utilizing a 3D printer for fabrication. In order to verify the final design, an experimental environment is constructed and the effectiveness of the distributer is analyzed through pneumatic measurement. © ICROS 2020.