Design of a Lightweight Inflatable Sensing Sleeve for Increased Adaptability and Safety of Legged Robots

Kim, Taekyoung; Park, Jae‐Jun; Yoon, Sohee John; Kong, Do Hun; Park, Hae Won; Park, Yong‐Lae

doi:10.1109/robosoft.2019.8722711

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…From the results of prior works for constructing and analyzing the human-robot impact model, the stiffness of covering materials for the host robot is a key factor for the reduction of the impact force [31]. More importantly, there are related works based on these results in real application of HRC, such as inflatable sensing modules [25] and sleeves [26], indicating the feasibility of improving safety performance in HRC through variable stiffness. Thus, a safety improvement strategy based on the CoboSkin of which the stiffness can be changed is proposed in this article, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: A Reduction Of Impact Force With Variable Stiffnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the proposed strategy, there are several other reactive methods (i.e., the methods effected before the collision are defined as proactive methods; the methods effected after the collision are defined as reactive methods) for minimizing the injury caused by unintended collision, such as lightweight [32], compliant joint [33], [34], compliant link [35], and deformable component [26]. Their contribution and limitation are summarized in Table I, where E R is the elastic modulus of robots and M R is the mass of robots.…”

Section: Comparison Of Safety Improvement Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The robot skin was capable of adjusting its stiffness by changing the internal air pressure. The robot skin was further improved for the increased safety of robots [26]. Although these approaches provide the soft robot skin with the sensing function, the initial impedance of sensing modules is affected by the inflation process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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CoboSkin: Soft Robot Skin With Variable Stiffness for Safer Human–Robot Collaboration

Pang

Yang

Heng

et al. 2021

IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron.

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Conventional industrial robots are unable to guarantee the inherent safety when working together with humans due to the use of rigid components and the lack of force sensation. To enhance the safety of humanrobot collaboration (HRC), the new collaborative robot skin (CoboSkin) with the features of softness, variable stiffness, and sensitivity is designed and studied in this article. The CoboSkin is composed of an array of inflatable units and sensing units. The sensing units made of soft porous materials are capable of measuring distributed contact force in a real-time manner. By leveraging the foaming process, the sensing units are interconnected with inflatable units fabricated by the elastomer of which the deformation is limited by the textile wrapped around it. Variation of stiffness is enabled by adjusting the internal air pressure supplied to inflatable units, thereby changing the sensitivity of the sensing units and reducing the peak impact force. Soft porous materials endowed the CoboSkin with increased sensitivity, minimal hysteresis, excellent cycling stability, and response time in the millisecond range, which enabled sensing feedback for controlling a robot arm at different levels of stiffness. Finally, the validation of the CoboSkin

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Section: A Reduction Of Impact Force With Variable Stiffnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Comparison Of Safety Improvement Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

CoboSkin: Soft Robot Skin With Variable Stiffness for Safer Human–Robot Collaboration

Pang

Yang

Heng

et al. 2021

IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron.

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“…To address this, they proposed a lightweight inflatable sensing skin composed of thermoplastic sheet layers that contained fabric‐based capacitive touch‐sensitive pads and an air pressure sensor. [ 55 ] This reduced the weight significantly compared to the silicone skin, and fabrication was simplified by using a heat‐sealing process. However, the capacitive touchpad could only detect contact as binary states, and it was impossible to measure the magnitudes of pressures applied on each contact location using a single air pressure sensor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Adaptability of Legged Robots with Cutaneous Inflation and Sensation

Kim,

Lee,

Chang

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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In this article, a novel approach to enhance the maneuverability and adaptability of legged robots in challenging environments is proposed. This approach involves the integration of soft inflatable sensing skin, which provides additional mobile modes and environmental adaptability. The inflated skin's structural properties, such as buoyancy, volumed shape, and physical compliance, enable quadruped robots to extend their mobility to stable swimming and crawling modes. The inflated skin also offers physical protection through cushioning and backing effects, allowing robots to roll down stair‐like structures. Furthermore, the integration of tactile sensors provides the host robot with accurate and intuitive contact information, enabling increased environmental adaptability and responsive behavior. The robot can protect itself from impacts, detect and detour obstacles, and dynamically interact with its surrounding environment. Overall, the proposed approach offers a synergistic integration of soft inflatable sensing skin and tactile sensors to enhance legged robots’ maneuverability and adaptability in harsh environments. The integrated system enables robots to achieve challenging missions, extending their capabilities beyond conventional locomotive modes. The proposed approach has significant potential applications in fields such as search and rescue, surveillance, and exploration.

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“…Integrating rigid robots with inflatable structures and sensors can effectively alleviate such unexpected collisions while sensing the surrounding environments. An inflatable sleeve integrated with capacitive sensors or potentiometers acquires tactile information and reduces the impact force by collision for legged robots [ 17 ] or lightweight soft robotic arms [ 18 ]. Air-filled force-sensing modules at various scales provide contact force feedback and absorb impact [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a Sensitive Balloon Sensor for Safe Human–Robot Interaction

Kim

Han

Kim

et al. 2021

Sensors

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As the safety of a human body is the main priority while interacting with robots, the field of tactile sensors has expanded for acquiring tactile information and ensuring safe human–robot interaction (HRI). Existing lightweight and thin tactile sensors exhibit high performance in detecting their surroundings. However, unexpected collisions caused by malfunctions or sudden external collisions can still cause injuries to rigid robots with thin tactile sensors. In this study, we present a sensitive balloon sensor for contact sensing and alleviating physical collisions over a large area of rigid robots. The balloon sensor is a pressure sensor composed of an inflatable body of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and a highly sensitive and flexible strain sensor laminated onto it. The mechanical crack-based strain sensor with high sensitivity enables the detection of extremely small changes in the strain of the balloon. Adjusting the geometric parameters of the balloon allows for a large and easily customizable sensing area. The weight of the balloon sensor was approximately 2 g. The sensor is employed with a servo motor and detects a finger or a sheet of rolled paper gently touching it, without being damaged.

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Design of a Lightweight Inflatable Sensing Sleeve for Increased Adaptability and Safety of Legged Robots

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

CoboSkin: Soft Robot Skin With Variable Stiffness for Safer Human–Robot Collaboration

CoboSkin: Soft Robot Skin With Variable Stiffness for Safer Human–Robot Collaboration

Environmental Adaptability of Legged Robots with Cutaneous Inflation and Sensation

Design of a Sensitive Balloon Sensor for Safe Human–Robot Interaction

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