This paper presents a fully-integrated soft robotic glove with multi-articular textile actuators, custom soft sensors, and an intuitive state machine intent detection controller. We demonstrate that the pressurized actuators can generate motion and force comparable to natural human fingers through bench-top testing. We apply textile-elastomer capacitive sensors to the glove to track finger flexion via strain and detect contact with objects via force. Intuitive user control is achieved via a state machine controller based on signals from the integrated sensors to detect relative changes in hand-object interactions. Results from an initial evaluation with 3 participants with spinal cord injury (SCI), of varied injury levels and years since injury, wearing and controlling the glove show an average of 87% improvement in grasping force, and improvements in functional assessments for participants with recent injuries. A significant variation in response suggests further investigation is required to understand the adaptation needed across different injury levels and durations since injury. Additionally, we evaluate the controller and find an average of 3 seconds from user initiations to completed grasps, and 10% inadvertent grasp triggers and no false releases when objects are held.

Robotic artificial muscles are a subset of artificial muscles that are capable of producing biologically inspired motions useful for robot systems, i.e., large power-to-weight ratios, inherent compliance, and large range of motions. These actuators, ranging from shape memory alloys to dielectric elastomers, are increasingly popular for biomimetic robots as they may operate without using complex linkage designs or other cumbersome mechanisms. Recent achievements in fabrication, modeling, and control methods have significantly contributed to their potential utilization in a wide range of applications. However, no survey paper has gone into depth regarding considerations pertaining to their selection, design, and usage in generating biomimetic motions. In this paper, we discuss important characteristics and considerations in the selection, design, and implementation of various prominent and unique robotic artificial muscles for biomimetic robots, and provide perspectives on next-generation muscle-powered robots.