Pneumatic Big-hand gripper with slip-in tip aimed for the transfer support of the human body

This paper proposes a pneumatic gripper that allows gripping of the human body aimed for the transfer support, whether the body is lying down or leaning against the back support on the chair. To grip the body safely and comfortably under any conditions, two functions are newly introduced. One of them is “shape adaptive joints” which enable every gripping force to be equally distributed at each contact point regardless of body shape. The other is “slip in tip” which helps to reduce both the risk of injury and the uncomfortable friction between the body and the gripper, realized by a new pneumatic actuator to draw out the inner chambers without rubbing against the contact surface. It allows to bend following to the body shape and can also retract the chamber to release the patient safely. The validity of these functions are verified by a developed prototype called “Big-hand”, and its effectiveness for the transfer support is experimentally confirmed by lifting a mannequin and a human being.