A Highly Adaptable Flexible Soft Glove Consisting of Multimode Deformable Soft Finger

This work presents a novel highly adaptable flexible soft glove composed of multimode deformable three-jointed soft fingers. The soft fingers are assembled by soft actuators and plastic materials that can be driven and controlled with single Degree of Freedom (DOF). A variety of different soft actuators are used as joint drive components to meet the motion requirements of fingers under different working conditions. We established a theoretical model to describe the deflection of the soft actuators based on reciprocal theorems. In addition, the finite-element method (FEM) was used to simulate the curvature change of the soft actuator and the soft finger, the soft actuators theoretical and simulation results were verified by experiments, and the multimode deformable soft fingers were simulated by FEM. Finally, a five-finger soft rehabilitation glove was prototyped and presented experimentally where the flexibility and functionality endowed by the soft fingers were demonstrated and highlighted. The versatility was also showcased in the applications.

Automated summary

This work introduces a novel highly adaptable flexible soft glove consisting of multimode deformable three-jointed soft fingers. These soft fingers are made up of soft actuators and plastic materials that can be driven and controlled with a single Degree of Freedom (DOF). Various soft actuators are used as joint drive components to meet the finger's motion requirements under different working conditions. Theoretical models and simulations were developed to describe the deflection and curvature changes of the soft actuators and fingers, which were then validated through experiments. The prototype of a five-finger soft rehabilitation glove demonstrated the flexibility and functionality provided by the soft fingers, showcasing its versatility in various applications.