Co-Design of actuators based textiles for rehabilitation


The benefits of flexible actuators are their light weight, softness, and ability to assume any shape while displaying significant deformation in response to outside stimuli. Even though the expertise behind flexible actuators used in smart textiles is still in its infancy, the ability of actuator-based textiles to generate force and change shape could lead to some innovative new features and boost their intelligence. At the moment, smart textiles only very rarely use flexible actuator technology. However, a variety of applications are conceivable when combining flexible actuators and smart cloth. They can be used in multidimensional areas including healthcare applications. In this chapter, the design of actuator-based textiles for rehabilitation is reviewed and discussed. Undoubtedly, the field of smart textiles will be considerably impacted by the usage of flexible actuator knowledge in the coming years.