Body worn apparatus and prosthetic

A method of assisting a living being with movement of a prosthetic device that is integrally formed with a wearable garment, comprising:

• providing a substantially soft, pliable first apparatus substantially in the form of an article of clothing to be worn by an individual, the first apparatus including a prosthetic device secured thereto and having first and second portions secured together for cooperative movement of the first and second portions as well as a body interface secured to either the first or second portion to couple the prosthetic device to a body part of a user;
• providing a plurality of hollow, tubular, elongate, substantially pliable, McKibbens artificial muscle type, incompressible hydraulic fluid activation elements arranged in at least one bundle of activation elements, the activation elements being anchored at opposite ends to the first and second portions of the prosthetic device respectively, the activation elements being arranged parallel in side-by-side relationship with respect to their lengths and capable of independent movement with respect to each other at least along their lengths when activated, each activation element of the bundle having a first predetermined diameter selected to provide a force density for the bundle of at least about two times greater than the force density enabled by any single one of an artificial muscle style hydraulic activation element that has a second diameter being at least five times greater than the first diameter;
• providing an incompressible hydraulic fluid pump system for independent and selective activation of each activation element of the bundle separately or in any combination to vary a force applied by the bundle to the prosthetic device;
• and
• activating a desired number of activation elements via the hydraulic fluid pump system so that the activation elements expand outwardly along their lengths to thereby contract longitudinally and provide a contraction force between the first and second portions of the prosthetic device to thereby move the first and second portions with respect to each other.