Characterization of 3D printed pneumatic soft actuator

Gonzalez, David; García, José María González; Voyles, Richard M.; Nawrocki, Robert A.; Newell, Brittany

doi:10.1016/j.sna.2021.113337

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The textures on the surface of the soft fingers due to the Turing patterns are beneficial because they improve the gripping performance by creating extra contact area. Compared to our C-shape design (payload ratio of 3.0×), works that report the weight of the payload relative to the gripper report a maximum payload ratio of up to 7.3× ( 44 ) or worse: 4.5× ( 45 ), 3.3× ( 46 ), and 0.1× ( 47 ). Similarly, the measured value of force per total volume for our C-shape design is measured to be 94 mN at 53 kPa or 0.028 mN/mm 3 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 71%

Turing pattern–based design and fabrication of inflatable shape-morphing structures

et al. 2023

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Turing patterns are self-organizing stripes or spots widely found in biological systems and nature. Although inspiring, their applications are limited. Inflatable shape-morphing structures have attracted substantial research attention. Traditional inflatable structures use isotropic materials with geometrical features to achieve shape morphing. Recently, gradient-based optimization methods have been used to design these structures. These methods assume anisotropic materials whose orientation can vary freely. However, this assumption makes fabrication a considerable challenge by methods such as additive manufacturing, which print isotropic materials. Here, we present a methodology of using Turing patterns to bridge this gap. Specifically, we use Turing patterns to convert a design with distributed anisotropic materials to a distribution with two materials, which can be fabricated by grayscale digital light processing 3D printing. This work suggests that it is possible to apply patterns in biological systems and nature to engineering composites and offers new concepts for future material design.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 71%

Turing pattern–based design and fabrication of inflatable shape-morphing structures

et al. 2023

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“…Also, because of the high elasticity of soft TPU filament, the control of the flow rate of material through the printing extruder is less precise compared with that of the rigid filaments, which increases the risk of defects in the results. In most of the previous works, the solution for this issue has been either to increase the thickness of the walls of the pneumatic devices or to use a very low printing speed (<10 mm/s) ( 43 , 49 , 51 , 61 ). However, because TPU is stiffer than the soft materials used in other fabrication methods, a thicker wall would result in printed parts with a higher structural stiffness, making them less suitable for soft robotics.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Desktop fabrication of monolithic soft robotic devices with embedded fluidic control circuits

Zhai

Boer²,

Yan

et al. 2023

Sci. Robot.

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Most soft robots are pneumatically actuated and fabricated by molding and assembling processes that typically require many manual operations and limit complexity. Furthermore, complex control components (for example, electronic pumps and microcontrollers) must be added to achieve even simple functions. Desktop fused filament fabrication (FFF) three-dimensional printing provides an accessible alternative with less manual work and the capability of generating more complex structures. However, because of material and process limitations, FFF-printed soft robots often have a high effective stiffness and contain a large number of leaks, limiting their applications. We present an approach for the design and fabrication of soft, airtight pneumatic robotic devices using FFF to simultaneously print actuators with embedded fluidic control components. We demonstrated this approach by printing actuators an order of magnitude softer than those previously fabricated using FFF and capable of bending to form a complete circle. Similarly, we printed pneumatic valves that control a high-pressure airflow with low control pressure. Combining the actuators and valves, we demonstrated a monolithically printed electronics-free autonomous gripper. When connected to a constant supply of air pressure, the gripper autonomously detected and gripped an object and released the object when it detected a force due to the weight of the object acting perpendicular to the gripper. The entire fabrication process of the gripper required no posttreatment, postassembly, or repair of manufacturing defects, making this approach highly repeatable and accessible. Our proposed approach represents a step toward complex, customized robotic systems and components created at distributed fabricating facilities.

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“…Furthermore, FDM and DIW processes can combine to realize a hybrid 3D printing technology to print components or devices consisting of multiple materials. Newell et al [ 5 ] combined multiple materials to print pressure sensors embedded into pneumatic actuators. Researchers have also explored advanced modeling techniques to simulate these combinations of sensitive materials with actuating structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The problem with making soft robots operate in our method is neither with realtime signal processing algorithms nor with converting the data to dynamic coefficients sent to a physics-based actuator system to perform the task. [5] The bottleneck is found with sensing capabilities to acquire the data. [6] Since early research of flexible pressure sensors were presented by Someya et al, [7,8] many innovative ideas have been studied and developed to design and fabricate sensing components (including but not limited to pressure sensors) for soft robots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effect of Additive Manufacturing on β‐Phase Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride)‐Based Capacitive Temperature Sensors

et al. 2022

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Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, significantly simplifies the manufacturing process for soft electronics. This work demonstrates the feasibility of a fully 3D‐printed flexible poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF) capacitive temperature sensor. The sensor is constructed using fused deposition modeling (FDM)‐printed PVdF film as the dielectric (thickness ≈180–280 μm) sandwiched between two parallel Direct Ink Writing (DIW) printed silver electrodes (entire device thickness ≈200–380 μm). The motion of the nozzle can facilitate mechanical drawing to the molten PVdF filament, which is a necessary condition to increase the β‐phase content (critical for the sensitivity of the sensor). With optimized printing parameters, the highest β‐phase content (21.30%) is achieved when printing with a nozzle temperature of 200 °C and a print speed of 70 mm s−1. The research demonstrates the application of the device as a temperature sensor by applying heating‐and‐cooling cycles from room temperature (25 °C) up to 140 °C while measuring the capacitance as a function of frequency under different temperatures. The sensor exhibits a stable sensitivity of 3 pF °C−1 at 102 Hz and higher frequencies and improved sensitivities at frequencies higher than 102 Hz after dielectric polarization via the corona poling method.

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Characterization of 3D printed pneumatic soft actuator

Cited by 15 publications

References 11 publications

Turing pattern–based design and fabrication of inflatable shape-morphing structures

Turing pattern–based design and fabrication of inflatable shape-morphing structures

Desktop fabrication of monolithic soft robotic devices with embedded fluidic control circuits

Effect of Additive Manufacturing on β‐Phase Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride)‐Based Capacitive Temperature Sensors

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