Shveda, Rachel A.Rajappan, AnoopYap, Te FayeLiu, ZhenBell, Marquise D.Jumet, BarclaySanchez, VanessaPreston, Daniel J.2022-09-082022-09-082022Shveda, Rachel A., Rajappan, Anoop, Yap, Te Faye, et al.. "A wearable textile-based pneumatic energy harvesting system for assistive robotics." <i>Science Advances,</i> 8, no. 34 (2022) AAAS: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo2418.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/113199Wearable assistive, rehabilitative, and augmentative devices currently require bulky power supplies, often making these tools more of a burden than an asset. This work introduces a soft, low-profile, textile-based pneumatic energy harvesting system that extracts power directly from the foot strike of a user during walking. Energy is harvested with a textile pump integrated into the insole of the user’s shoe and stored in a wearable textile bladder to operate pneumatic actuators on demand, with system performance optimized based on a mechano-fluidic model. The system recovered a maximum average power of nearly 3 W with over 20% conversion efficiency—outperforming electromagnetic, piezoelectric, and triboelectric alternatives—and was used to power a wearable arm-lift device that assists shoulder motion and a supernumerary robotic arm, demonstrating its capability as a lightweight, low-cost, and comfortable solution to support adults with upper body functional limitations in activities of daily living.engDistributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).Journal articlesciadv-abo2418https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo2418