Development of 3D Printed Tendon Anchor for Force Transmission in Wearable Knee Exoskeleton

• Main Authors: Kang, Brian Byunghyun, Park, Woojin, Cho, Kyu-Jin
• Other Authors: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Progress in Additive Manufacturing (Pro-AM 2014)
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Tendon drive; Wearable robot
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/84401; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/41750
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Tendon Anchor was developed for force transmission in tendon-driven soft wearable robot, which is the only rigid part that is attached to the human body. While developing Tendon Anchor, customization on human body was important feature due to the pressure distribution on human skin while actuating. To satisfy this criterion, fabrication process using 3D printer was established. While actuating tendon, pressure was measured to see the performance of force distribution. The shape of the anchor was optimized based on the measurement and printed with a 3D printer. In development of any tendon-driven wearable soft exoskeleton, anchoring tendon is important for force transmission. 3D printer allows customization of the part for each person which increases the wear-ability of the soft exoskeleton.