Characterisation of pressure distribution at the interface of a soft exosuit: Towards a more comfortable wear

Abstract

The rapid growth of wearable robots in the last decade requires tackling practical issues that arise from their daily use, among which comfort is of great importance. In this work we quantify the level of comfort of a soft exosuit for the elbow by measuring the distribution of pressures at its interface with the human body. We do so with five different cushioning materials, commonly used in sport equipment and orthoses, and identify the ones exhibiting lower peaks of pressure. Polyethylene sponge and neoprene result in the best padding.