Fabric Pneumatic Artificial Muscle-Based Head-Neck Exosuit: Design, Modeling, and Evaluation
Katalin Schäffer, Ian Bales, Haohan Zhang, Margaret McGuinness · Katalin Schaffer, Ian Bales, Haohan Zhang, and Margaret McGuinness "Fabric Pneumatic Artificial Muscle-Based Head-Neck Exosuit: Design, Modeling, and Evaluation," in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2026 · 2026
This research presents a fabric pneumatic artificial muscle-based exosuit designed to assist head-neck mobility, particularly for patients with neurological disorders.
Plain English summary
Why this matters
Key findings
- Proposed a fabric pneumatic artificial muscle-based exosuit for head-neck support.
- Developed a physics-based model to derive actuator pressures for gravitational load compensation.
- Achieved 83% workspace coverage despite actuator length limitations.
- Introduced compression force along the neck as a comfort-related metric.
- Demonstrated functional head support and trajectory tracking in tests.
What's new
The use of fabric pneumatic artificial muscles for head-neck support in a wearable exosuit represents a shift from traditional rigid exoskeletons to more comfortable, soft actuation methods.
Limitations
The model indicates limitations in workspace coverage due to actuator lengths and gravity compensation, which may affect performance.
Commercial context
The prototype has been tested with a test dummy and human users, indicating potential for further development and application in healthcare.
Publication
- Publisher
- arXiv
- Journal
- Katalin Schaffer, Ian Bales, Haohan Zhang, and Margaret McGuinness "Fabric Pneumatic Artificial Muscle-Based Head-Neck Exosuit: Design, Modeling, and Evaluation," in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2026
- Publication date
- March 13, 2026
- Research type
- Preprint
- arXiv
- 2603.13531
- Access
- open
Tags
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