Development of a power assist suit for nursing work

A stand alone wearable power assisting suit was developed, which gives nurses the extra muscle they need to lift their patients and avoid back injuries. The suit consists of shoulders, arms, back, waist and legs units to be fitted on the nurse's body. The arms, shoulders, waist and legs have pneumatic rotary actuators driven directly by micro air pumps. The suit was applied practically to a human body and movement experiments that weights in the arms were held and take up and down was performed. Each unit of the suit could transmit assisting torque directly to each joint verifying its practicability.