"Controlled Slip" Energy Harvesting While Walking.

Rapid development in wearable electronics and systems continues to impose challenges on portable energy storage sustained over time, and thus human energy harvesting is a potentially attractive means of sustainable, long-term energy. We introduce a novel 'controlled slip' energy harvesting approach for capturing energy during human locomotion. While slip is normally considered undesirable, controlled slip holds potential to enable a significant amount of energy harvesting during each step of human gait.

Soft Wearable Skin-Stretch Device for Haptic Feedback Using Twisted and Coiled Polymer Actuators.

Soft and integrated design can enable wearable haptic devices to augment natural human taction. This paper proposes a novel, soft, haptic finger-worn wearable device based on compliant and adhesive silicone skin and lightweight twisted and coiled polymer (TCP) actuators using ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers to provide lateral skin stretch sensations. Recently, silicone elastomers have been used in wearable sensors and in haptic applications for their high compliance or adhesion.

Wearable lower limb haptic feedback device for retraining Foot Progression Angle and Step Width.

Technological developments in the last decade have enabled the integration of sensors and actuators into wearable devices for gait interventions to slow the progression of knee osteoarthritis. Wearable haptic gait retraining is one area which has seen promising results for informing modifications of gait parameters for reducing knee adduction moments (KAM) during walking. Two gait parameters which can be easily adjusted to influence KAM include foot progression angle (FPA) and step width (SW).

Lower Extremity Lateral Skin Stretch Perception for Haptic Feedback.

Tactile feedback in recent decades has allowed humans to receive information through technology beyond traditional visual and auditory senses. Lateral skin stretch has the potential to be a mode of tactile feedback, reliably enabling the perception of directional cues through the use of a single actuator. Experiments were conducted to explore sensitivity to skin stretch on nine locations on the human lower leg.