Design and Fabrication Method of a Soft Pneumatic Silicone Exosuit for Elbow Rehabilitation Assistance

This study introduces the design process and fabrication method of a soft pneumatic silicone-based exosuit intended to assist human elbow extension and flexion movement for rehabilitation. First of all, an integrated fabrication method is developed to replace the step-by-step casting and cloth fiber layer, using a 3D-printed PVA mold in silicone casting to ensure the airtightness of the silicone actuator, and a carbon fiber woven mesh is used as the base plate of the actuator to improve its bending performance. Then, the finite element analysis is used to optimize the geometric parameters, hardness, and the number of air chambers for the exosuit structure. The experimental evaluation confirms that the exosuit achieves a bending angle of 112 degrees without any load and 71 degrees with a load of 2 kg. Combining with the PI angular controller, the system limits the maximum absolute tracking error to 4.29 degrees. These results also suggest the proposed exosuit is a promising candidate for practical rehabilitation tasks.