Design of an Active Flexible Spine for Wall Climbing Robot Using Pneumatic Soft Actuators

Chen, Guangming; Lin, Tao; Lodewijks, Gabriel; Ji, Aihong

doi:10.1007/s42235-022-00273-2

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…where d k is the incompressibility parameter, C i is the material constant, J is the volume variation ratio, I 1 is the first invariant [39]. Owing to the isotropy and incompressibility of silicone, J = 1.…”

Section: Motion Modelling Simulation Of Srfpamentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of an actuator with bionic claw hook–suction cup hybrid structure for soft robot

Wang,

Lin,

Yuan

et al. 2024

Bioinspir. Biomim.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To improve the adaptability of soft robots to the environment and achieve reliable attachment on various surfaces such as smooth and rough, this study draws inspiration from the collaborative attachment strategy of insects, cats, and other biological claw hooks and foot pads, and designs an actuator with a bionic claw hook-suction cup hybrid structure. The rigid biomimetic pop-up claw hook linkage mechanism is combined with a flexible suction cup of a "foot pad" to achieve a synergistic adhesion effect between claw hook locking and suction cup adhesion through the deformation control of a soft pneumatic actuator. A pop-up claw hook linkage mechanism based on the principle of cat claw movement was designed, and the attachment mechanism of the biological claw hooks and footpads was analysed. An artificial muscle-spring-reinforced flexible pneumatic actuator (SRFPA) was developed and a kinematic model of the SRFPA was established and analysed using Abaqus. Finally, a prototype of the hybrid actuator was fabricated. The kinematic and mechanical performances of the SRFPA and entire actuator were characterized, and the attachment performance of the hybrid actuator to smooth and rough surfaces was tested. The results indicate that the proposed biomimetic claw hook-suction cup hybrid structure actuator is effective for various types of surface adhesion, object grasping, and robot walking. This study provides new insights for the design of highly adaptable robots and biomimetic attachment devices.

show abstract

Section: Motion Modelling Simulation Of Srfpamentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of an actuator with bionic claw hook–suction cup hybrid structure for soft robot

Wang,

Lin,

Yuan

et al. 2024

Bioinspir. Biomim.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, taking advantage of the motion variance and structure softness, FRAs have the potential to be applied to implement the soft SRLs. Actually, FRAs have been employed in many fields of robotics, such as flexible spine for gecko-inspired wall-climbing robots [13], soft robotic gripper [14], eel-inspired underwater robots [15], and soft robotic sleeve supporting heart function [16]. Applying FRAs into the implementation of the soft SRL is expected to achieve better manipulation and wearing experience.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Soft Supernumerary Robotic Limb with Fiber-Reinforced Actuators

Xu,

Zhang,

Huang

et al. 2024

J Intell Robot Syst

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) have great potentials to assist human in daily activities and industrial manufacturing by providing extra limbs. However, current SRLs have heavy and rigid structures that may threaten the operator safety; moreover, their limited degrees of freedom and movement modes are not suitable for complicated tasks. Although soft SRLs have exhibited advantages in structure compliance and flexible manipulation to address these problems, it remains challenging to accurately design the geometrical parameters to adapt to specific tasks, and accurate control is also required to realize the expected movement. Inspired by the biological characteristics of the octopus arm muscle fibers, fiber-reinforced actuators (FRAs) are employed to realize various motions, including extension, expansion, bending, and twisting; multiple FRAs are assembled to implement the SRL to achieve complex movement trajectories. The analytic model of the FRA is established to reveal the relationship between its deformation and geometrical parameters as well as input air pressures, which is validated with finite element simulation. Trajectory and payload optimization algorithms are proposed to optimally design the SRL and its control strategy with meeting the prescribed requirement of movement trajectory and payload capacity. Finally, experiments are conducted to validate the proposed robotic system.

show abstract

“…The muscle fiber is comprised of a number of myofibrils arranged in parallel and comprised of sarcomeres arranged in-series, which usually exhibit an angle to connective tissue's line and thus determines the muscle's mechanical function [8]. Hill proposed a theoretical model for the force-velocity relationship during muscle movement, in which muscle output force decreases significantly with increasing muscle fiber contraction velocity, favoring the output of muscle velocity at low loads and force output at high loads [9,[27][28][29][30]. The active actuation mechanisms of muscles relying on regional variation in architectures provide a feasible way for tuning the mechanical and deformation behaviors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fiber-dominated Soft Actuators Inspired by Plant Cell Walls and Skeletal Muscles

Ren

Liu

et al. 2022

J Bionic Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Morphing botanical tissues and animal muscles are all fiber-mediated composites, in which fibers play a passive and active role, respectively. Herein, inspired by the mechanism of fibers functioning in morphing botanical tissues and animal muscles, we propose two sorts of fiber-dominated composite actuators. First, inspired by the deformation of awned seeds in response to humidity change, we fabricate passive fiber-dominated actuators using non-active aligned carbon fibers via 4D printing method. The effects of process parameters, structural parameters, and fiber angles on the deformation of the printed actuators are examined. The experimental results show that the orientation degree is enhanced, resulting in a better swelling effect as the printing speed increases. Then, motivated by the actuation mechanism of skeletal muscle, we prepare active fiber-dominated actuators using active polyurethane fibers via 4D printing and pre-stretching method. The effect of fiber angle and loading on the actuation mode is experimentally analyzed. The experimental results show that the rotation angle of the actuator gradually decreases with the angle from 45° to 60°. When the fiber angle is 0° and 90°, the driver basically stops rotating while shrinking along the loading direction. Based on the above actuation mechanisms, identical contraction behaviors are realized both in passive and active fiber-dominated soft actuators. This work provides a validation method for biologically actuation mechanisms via 4D printing technique and smart materials and adds further insights to the design of bioinspired soft actuators.

show abstract

Design of an Active Flexible Spine for Wall Climbing Robot Using Pneumatic Soft Actuators

Cited by 13 publications

References 31 publications

Design of an actuator with bionic claw hook–suction cup hybrid structure for soft robot

Design of an actuator with bionic claw hook–suction cup hybrid structure for soft robot

A Soft Supernumerary Robotic Limb with Fiber-Reinforced Actuators

Fiber-dominated Soft Actuators Inspired by Plant Cell Walls and Skeletal Muscles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About