C
Captured on Camera
Text & photo: Gijs van Ouwerkerk
Soft fluidic actuator Professor Herman van der Kooij received a Vici grant for the development of a flexible robotic suit that helps paralyzed people walk again. This suit aims to support the movements of the body using soft actuators and doesn’t need a cumbersome and heavy exoskeleton. In this laboratory model of a knee joint by postdoc researcher Allan Veale, the actuator in question is a flexible white tube that is folded within a honeycomb-like structure. The knee joint can move to the desired position simply by regulating the air pressure within this tube. Where other existing soft actuators typically generate torques between 1 and 10 Newton-meters, this UT innovation is capable of approximately 90 Newton-meters, enough to make a person rise from a sitting position.
50