Active wearable tremor suppression devices apply actuators to the human body to produce joint torques that reduce tremor motion. This potential alternative to medications and surgery has the advantage of providing robust tremor treatment that is non-invasive, but the bulkiness of typical engineering actuators currently prohibits clinical implementations. Dielectric elastomer stack actuators (DESAs) offer a potential pathway towards achieving soft, low-profile tremor suppression devices: DESAs have similar mechanical properties as human muscles and can conform to the human limb. However, low actuation levels and a lack of commercial availability limit the development of DESA-based orthoses. Employing a control approach that only suppresses tremor while allowing the actuators to follow voluntary motion passively significantly decreases actuation requirements to improve potential for clinical devices. Still, DESAs that may offer the necessary actuation characteristics require specialized equipment and techniques. This research advances DESA-based tremor suppression by experimentally demonstrating DESA-based suppression of tremor-like signals on a scaled system using easily manufactured DESAs. Further discussion quantifies the DESA parameters that will enable physical implementations of human-scale tremor suppression and identifies pathways towards achieving those parameters.

主动式可穿戴式震颤抑制装置将执行器施加到人体上，以产生可减少震颤运动的关节扭矩。这种潜在的药物和手术替代方法具有提供无创性强力震颤治疗的优势，但是典型的工程促动器目前体积庞大，无法进行临床应用。介电弹性体堆栈促动器（DESA）为实现柔软，低调的震颤抑制装置提供了一条潜在途径：DESA具有与人体肌肉相似的机械性能，并且可以顺应人体肢体。然而，低驱动水平和缺乏商业可用性限制了基于DESA的矫形器的发展。采用仅抑制震颤的控制方法，同时允许致动器被动地跟随自发运动，显着降低了致动要求，从而提高了临床设备的潜力。尽管如此，可能提供必要的致动特性的DESA仍需要专门的设备和技术。这项研究通过使用易于制造的DESA在规模化系统上实验性地证明了基于DESA的震颤样信号的抑制，从而促进了基于DESA的震颤抑制。进一步的讨论量化了DESA参数，这些参数将能够物理实现人类规模的震颤抑制，并确定实现这些参数的途径。可能提供必要的驱动特性的DESA需要专用的设备和技术。这项研究通过使用易于制造的DESA在规模化系统上实验性地证明了基于DESA的震颤样信号的抑制，从而促进了基于DESA的震颤抑制。进一步的讨论量化了DESA参数，这些参数将能够物理实现人类规模的震颤抑制，并确定实现这些参数的途径。可能提供必要的驱动特性的DESA需要专用的设备和技术。这项研究通过使用易于制造的DESA在规模化系统上实验性地证明了基于DESA的震颤样信号的抑制，从而促进了基于DESA的震颤抑制。进一步的讨论量化了DESA参数，这些参数将能够物理实现人类规模的震颤抑制，并确定实现这些参数的途径。