Seminar on From Soft Robotic Artificial Muscles to Exosuits for Mobility Assistance and Rehabilitation

05 Dec 2025 10.30 AM - 11.00 AM LHN-LT (The Arc, LHN-B1-15) Current Students, Public

Dr Richard Suphapol Diteesawat

University of Bristol, UK

This seminar will be chaired by Prof Domenico Campolo.

Seminar Abstract

Millions of people worldwide live with mobility impairments, highlighting the urgent need for healthcare solutions that restore independence and improve quality of life. To address this challenge, we have developed lightweight, high-strength pneumatic artificial muscles, creating a stream of novel soft wearable exoskeletons for assistance and rehabilitation. By integrating compliant reinforcing structures into the inflatable muscles, we created a new class of soft robotic knee braces that provides comfortable, natural motion assistance. In parallel, we developed the shrink-to-fit sleeves that offer autonomous fitting and smart body anchoring, enabling efficient force transmission for prolonged, comfortable mobility support. Furthermore, we developed a novel electrostatic pump that efficiently drives pneumatic artificial muscles with significantly lower power consumption, opening new possibilities for the future portable, in-clothing, close-loop pneumatic actuation systems. 

Speaker's Biography 

Richard Suphapol Diteesawat is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, leading research on intelligent robotic textiles for next-generation assistive clothing. He is also Co-Investigator of the £13.4 million EPSRC VIVO Healthcare Technologies Hub for Enhanced Independent Living. His current research focuses on high-power textile muscles, smart sensing and energy-harvesting textiles, and embedded intelligence in robotic garments to enable long-term, personalised mobility support. His broader research spans soft robotic artificial muscles, wearable and medical assistive technologies for mobility rehabilitation for ageing populations and patients with physical disabilities and neurological injuries, and human augmentation.


Categories