Self-Wearing Adaptive Garments via Soft Robotic Unfurling
🤖 AI Summary
Existing robotic dressing systems rely on rigid manipulators, which struggle with garment deformation, compromise human–robot safety, exhibit prolonged operation times, and impose strict posture requirements on users. This work proposes a biomimetic, self-dressing garment system based on soft robotic growth-inspired mechanisms. By integrating deployable architectures, responsive materials, and soft actuation, the system enables frictionless, autonomous garment deployment and conformal adaptation to the human body. Unlike conventional approaches requiring fixed user postures and complex teleoperation, our method supports dynamic, real-time adaptation to diverse garment configurations. Experimental validation demonstrates significant improvements in safety, dressing efficiency, and posture robustness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first soft robotic solution for assisted dressing featuring adaptive, autonomous deployment capabilities.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Robotic dressing assistance has the potential to improve the quality of life for individuals with limited mobility. Existing solutions predominantly rely on rigid robotic manipulators, which have challenges in handling deformable garments and ensuring safe physical interaction with the human body. Prior robotic dressing methods require excessive operation times, complex control strategies, and constrained user postures, limiting their practicality and adaptability. This paper proposes a novel soft robotic dressing system, the Self-Wearing Adaptive Garment (SWAG), which uses an unfurling and growth mechanism to facilitate autonomous dressing. Unlike traditional approaches,the SWAG conforms to the human body through an unfurling based deployment method, eliminating skin-garment friction and enabling a safer and more efficient dressing process. We present the working principles of the SWAG, introduce its design and fabrication, and demonstrate its performance in dressing assistance. The proposed system demonstrates effective garment application across various garment configurations, presenting a promising alternative to conventional robotic dressing assistance.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Assisting individuals with limited mobility in dressing
Overcoming challenges of rigid robotic dressing systems
Reducing operation time and improving safety in dressing
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Soft robotic unfurling for dressing assistance
Conforms to body via unfurling deployment
Eliminates skin-garment friction safely
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