Prototype of Funabot-Plate: Contact Force Base Controlled Wearable Assistive Suit with Rigid Plate

Assistive robots with soft actuators do not have joints like exoskeletons and have attracted attention because of their affinity for humans. In this study, we propose a soft assistive suit called "Funabot-Plate," which is driven by artificial muscles, has no joints, and is partially equipped with rigid plates and contact force distribution sensors. Funabot-Plate is expected to be applied to rehabilitation in the future, using contact force distribution information to evaluate and control suit safety. Assistive torque was designed based on the geometric model. Joint angle estimation and control were performed using contact force distribution sensors. The range of motion, contact force on the wearer, and convergence performance of the step response were evaluated through several basic experiments. As a result, it was confirmed that the contact force was measured normally, and the response converged with a slight error of about 1.6 deg. to the command value, although the range of motion remained a problem.