Power Augmentation and/or Rehabilitation for Human Upper Limb: A Review

Upper-limb exoskeletons are increasingly developed for rehabilitation and power augmentation, fucusing on important joints like the shoulder, elbow, and hand. To guarantee safe assistance, their design must comply with anatomical and biomechanical specifications. The three types of existing systems are soft pneumatic, hybrid, and rigid. While soft pneumatic solutions offer comfort and compliance with force output and control limitations, rigid systems offer precision and torque but are still large and misaligned. These trade-offs are intended to be balanced by hybrid systems. New developments in bidirectional actuation, smart sensing, and portable pneumatic sources have facilitated a move towards soft pneumatic actuators.