A robotic and virtual testing platform highlighting the promise of soft wearable actuators for wrist tremor suppression

Nearly 80 million people in the world deal with medical conditions that cause involuntary periodic movements known as tremors. Wearable soft robotic devices offer a potential solution for actively suppressing these tremors. However, existing prototypes face limitations in actuation performance and complex testing procedures. We present a comprehensive approach for the rapid evaluation of emerging wearable tremor-suppression technologies. This method combines reproducing patient-recorded tremor episodes and measuring tremor suppression in a robotic platform, termed a “mechanical patient”, with validation of the achieved suppression performance of soft actuators via biomechanical modeling, thereby avoiding time-consuming clinical testing in the early stages of development. Using this approach, we highlight that an antagonistic pair of slim and lightweight electrohydraulic actuators can effectively suppress clinically relevant tremors between 2 and 8 Hz. The biomechanical model confirms that the pair of actuators generates adequate suppression forces for all tested tremors.