A Novel Spider-Inspired Rotary-Rolling Diaphragm Actuator with Linear Torque Characteristic and High Mechanical Efficiency

Hepp, Jonas; Badri-Spröwitz, Alexander

doi:10.1089/soro.2020.0108

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…Researchers have explored a range of designs based on spiders, from rigid and hard hexapod robots inspired by the gait of spiders to soft grippers inspired by the actuation mechanism and architecture of spider joints. [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ] This fascination with spiders is not unwarranted; a spider's body relies on a synergy of both rigid and soft components that allows them to navigate through harsh environments with the help of their compliant geometric design and fluidic actuation. [ 22 ] For example, the compactness enabled by the hydraulic system, as compared to antagonistic muscle pairs, has allowed larger muscles for flexion which facilitate more efficient and powerful movements required for weaving webs and hunting prey.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready‐to‐Use Actuators

et al. 2022

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Designs perfected through evolution have informed bioinspired animal‐like robots that mimic the locomotion of cheetahs and the compliance of jellyfish; biohybrid robots go a step further by incorporating living materials directly into engineered systems. Bioinspiration and biohybridization have led to new, exciting research, but humans have relied on biotic materials—non‐living materials derived from living organisms—since their early ancestors wore animal hides as clothing and used bones for tools. In this work, an inanimate spider is repurposed as a ready‐to‐use actuator requiring only a single facile fabrication step, initiating the area of “necrobotics” in which biotic materials are used as robotic components. The unique walking mechanism of spiders—relying on hydraulic pressure rather than antagonistic muscle pairs to extend their legs—results in a necrobotic gripper that naturally resides in its closed state and can be opened by applying pressure. The necrobotic gripper is capable of grasping objects with irregular geometries and up to 130% of its own mass. Furthermore, the gripper can serve as a handheld device and innately camouflages in outdoor environments. Necrobotics can be further extended to incorporate biotic materials derived from other creatures with similar hydraulic mechanisms for locomotion and articulation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready‐to‐Use Actuators

et al. 2022

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“…The piston-like linear actuator employs a rolling diaphragm fabricated from a flexible film. Rolling diaphragms have been used in both linear and rotational hard pistons ( 41 , 42 ) to remove energy loss from friction while maintaining a fluid-tight seal ( 43 ), but they have seen limited adoption due to constraints surrounding fabrication of long diaphragms ( 41 ). Methods to create long rolling diaphragms have been proposed, but they are intensive and none are commercially available ( 41 , 44 , 45 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Programmable soft valves for digital and analog control

Decker

Jiang

Nemitz

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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In soft devices, complex actuation sequences and precise force control typically require hard electronic valves and microcontrollers. Existing designs for entirely soft pneumatic control systems are capable of either digital or analog operation, but not both, and are limited by speed of actuation, range of pressure, time required for fabrication, or loss of power through pull-down resistors. Using the nonlinear mechanics intrinsic to structures composed of soft materials—in this case, by leveraging membrane inversion and tube kinking—two modular soft components are developed: a piston actuator and a bistable pneumatic switch. These two components combine to create valves capable of analog pressure regulation, simplified digital logic, controlled oscillation, nonvolatile memory storage, linear actuation, and interfacing with human users in both digital and analog formats. Three demonstrations showcase the capabilities of systems constructed from these valves: 1) a wearable glove capable of analog control of a soft artificial robotic hand based on input from a human user’s fingers, 2) a human-controlled cushion matrix designed for use in medical care, and 3) an untethered robot which travels a distance dynamically programmed at the time of operation to retrieve an object. This work illustrates pathways for complementary digital and analog control of soft robots using a unified valve design.

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“…When pressurized, the sleeves flip inside out, elongate, and move forward. Eversion has been used in a wide variety of different applications ranging from medical catheters (25) to frictionless rubber seals in a rolling diaphragm cylinder (26). The mechanism has recently been rediscovered by Hawkes and colleagues and used for a bioinspired soft robot that could "grow" longitudinally, squeeze through small openings, and explore constrained environments (27)(28)(29)(30).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deployment of an electrocorticography system with a soft robotic actuator

et al. 2023

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Electrocorticography (ECoG) is a minimally invasive approach frequently used clinically to map epileptogenic regions of the brain and facilitate lesion resection surgery and increasingly explored in brain-machine interface applications. Current devices display limitations that require trade-offs among cortical surface coverage, spatial electrode resolution, aesthetic, and risk consequences and often limit the use of the mapping technology to the operating room. In this work, we report on a scalable technique for the fabrication of large-area soft robotic electrode arrays and their deployment on the cortex through a square-centimeter burr hole using a pressure-driven actuation mechanism called eversion. The deployable system consists of up to six prefolded soft legs, and it is placed subdurally on the cortex using an aqueous pressurized solution and secured to the pedestal on the rim of the small craniotomy. Each leg contains soft, microfabricated electrodes and strain sensors for real-time deployment monitoring. In a proof-of-concept acute surgery, a soft robotic electrode array was successfully deployed on the cortex of a minipig to record sensory cortical activity. This soft robotic neurotechnology opens promising avenues for minimally invasive cortical surgery and applications related to neurological disorders such as motor and sensory deficits.

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A Novel Spider-Inspired Rotary-Rolling Diaphragm Actuator with Linear Torque Characteristic and High Mechanical Efficiency

Cited by 10 publications

References 47 publications

Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready‐to‐Use Actuators

Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready‐to‐Use Actuators

Programmable soft valves for digital and analog control

Deployment of an electrocorticography system with a soft robotic actuator

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