Journal of Textile Research ›› 2024, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (05): 239-247.doi: 10.13475/j.fzxb.20230500702

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Advances in application of soft robot in apparel field

WANG Jianping1,2,3,4, ZHU Yanxi1,2, SHEN Jinzhu1,2, ZHANG Fan5, YAO Xiaofeng1,2(), YU Zhuoling1   

  1. 1. College of Fashion and Art Design, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Clothing Design and Technology, Ministry of Education, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China
    3. Shanghai Belt and Road Joint Laboratory of Textile Intelligent Manufacturing, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China
    4. Shanghai Institute of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
    5. Suzhou Rochu Robotics Co., Ltd.,Suzhou, Jiangsu 215600, China
  • Received:2023-05-04 Revised:2023-10-11 Online:2024-05-15 Published:2024-05-31

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Abstract:

Significance With the continuous progress of robotics and automatic control technology, robotics has been widely used in various fields such as medical treatment agriculture, and industry. China is a large producer of industrial robots, but the application of robotics in the apparel field is seriously lagging behind. Therefore, it is imperative to promote the combination of robotics with the apparel industry and enhance its application in automated apparel manufacturing and intelligent apparel. Soft robots are made from deformable materials, which have the advantages of high flexibility and adaptability compared with rigid robots and have now become a research hotspot in the field of robotics. The use of flexible materials enables soft robots to safely collaborate with users, which meets the requirement of co-integration in the apparel field and has great potential in accelerating the process of apparel intelligence.

Progress This paper reviews the research progress of soft robotics in the apparel field. The paper starts by focusing on the key technology of soft robot. Research status is summarized in four aspects, which are manufacturing materials, manufacturing methods, driving methods, control and modeling. The different driving methods are widely used in textile grasping and transferring, and medical-assisted garments, respectively. Among them, the soft body gripper represented by gas drive shows excellent application prospects in textile fabric gripping and transfer, and the combined gripper and multi-point layout model further simplifies the automated clothing transfer system. The soft robotic garments are divided into upper limb assisted garments and lower limb assisted garments. Hand function rehabilitation gloves in upper limb assistive devices mainly enhance hand muscle strength with the help of pneumatic artificial muscle or tendon drive. The other parts of the upper limb and lower limb assisted flexible robot garments are employed to reduce metabolic costs so as to improve motor performance by means of shape memory alloy fabric muscles, unpowered exoskeleton devices, and so on. It is also pointed out that the development of garment-assisted strategies should focus on the importance of the human-machine system.

Conclusion and Prospect In oder to address the shortcomings in the existing research, the driving method can be optimized with the help of smart materials, and the sensing and control elements can be reduced in combination with micromachining technology to improve the soft robot manufacturing efficiency and precise control. By analyzing the textile fabric characteristics, the accuracy of textile fabric gripping and dropping, and improve the versatility of fabric gripper to face the complicated fabric handling process are proposed for improvement. The research and development of intelligent garments should adhere to the principle of "human-centered" and optimize the performance of robot-assisted devices with the help of "human-in-the-loop" approach. The research of soft robots is still in its infant stage, and its use in the apparel field is of profound interdisciplinary and system complexity. It is necessary to further explore the industrial model of apparel smart manufacturing, and to integrate soft robotics with the apparel industry based on human needs.

Key words: apparel manufacturing, soft robot, textile fabric grasping, smart grament, drive technology

CLC Number: 

  • TP249

Tab.1

Advantages and disadvantages of different actuation methods for soft robots"

驱动方式 优势 不足 应用举例 参考文献
流体驱动 轻质、低成本、无污染;带载能力强,未来可以实现一体化设计 使用时需要额外配备附件,便捷性差;控制建模不精确 气动人工肌肉、软夹持器 [18,19,32]
智能材料驱动 SMA化学性质稳定,具有良好的热机械性能,适合纺织品材料;EAP质量轻、驱动效率高、抗震性能好 SMA响应速度慢、温度难以控制;EAP驱动需要较高的刺激电流,稳定性差 SMA人工肌肉、EAP驱动弹跳机器人 [20,21,49]
化学反应驱动 不需要外部链接装置,增加机器人的灵活度;可用于水下、悬崖等特殊环境,研究价值高 材料特殊,存在反应不可控的问题,通用性差 仿章鱼机器人 Octobot、折纸机器人 [2,15,22]
肌腱驱动 制造简单、形状任意,能够进行长距离传动 线性材料难以建立精确的数学模型,缺乏模块化解决方案 康复手套、软体机械臂 [5,18,23]

Fig.1

Soft gripper. (a) Soft holder with embedded microneedles; (b) Mag-Gripper; (c) Pneumatic soft gripper"

Fig.2

Hand function rehabilitation robot. (a) Exo-Glove A; (b) Exo-Glove Poly Ⅱ; (c) Soft robot gloves"

Fig.3

Upper limb assistance soft robot clothing. (a) Wearable robot with soft shoulder; (b) CRUX; (c)Elbow trainer;(d)SFM soft robot"

Fig.4

Wearable robot for walking and running assistance. (a) Non-powered exoskeleton; (b) Portable motion auxiliary equipment"

Fig.5

Gait-assisted wearable robot. (a) Bionic active soft orthotics; (b) Gait-assisted soft robot"

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