Fishing Line Spring Based Tendon for Concealed Ankle Brace

Existing exoskeletons have limitations due to their own weight and noticeable appearances. In this research, we developed an artificial tendon (passive components) using Fishing Line Spring (FLS) to give additional stiffness to reduce the load and muscle fatigue on the ankle joint, especially when walking and running for a long time. the FLS is fabricated by twisting the existing straight nylon fishing line to form spring coil shape. The FLS-based artificial muscles of bundle type were developed by mimicking the structure of tendons. Users can wear the ankle brace of the system comfortably like a sandal and can perform a wider range of motion because there is less pressure and restriction from the system. Moreover, the stiffness of the FLS can be changed by the temperature of the FLS. We can control the stiffness of the FLS depending on the walking strategy of users. We characterized the mechanical property of the FLS through FLS Spring constant (K) measurement. We will carry out a test to measure the mechanical properties of the FLS bundle depending on the temperature changes and will apply the FLS bundle to the ankle brace.