Fig. 1: EdemaFlex platform for personalized robotic knit glove.
From: EdemaFlex: textile-based soft-robotic platform toward personalized hand edema therapy
a EdemaFlex represents a platform that integrates fabrication through a co-design workflow involving clinicians (light blue), participants (gray), and researchers (purple). Symbols under “Knit Programming” indicate stitch types: left = knit stitch; right = non-knitting (miss) stitch used in the tubular jacquard structure. The tubular jacquard knit alternates knit and non-knitting stitches between the front and back beds to form an internal tubular structure without surface floats. b and c Anatomical illustration of the hand’s venous and lymphatic system, highlighting lymphatic drainage pathways and mechanism of healthy vs. lymphatic obstruction, illustrating fluid buildup and how actuated knit compression facilitates fluid drainage toward the lymphatic system, d Robotic knit glove with embedded 37 SMA actuators for sequential compression in hand edema management. e The inset shows a cross-section of the SMA within the knit layers and its behavior in both inactivated and activated states. A thermal camera image captures the Joule heating effect, showing the SMA reaching over 33.3 ∘C at 2 V within seconds, inducing a maximum strain of 20%.
