Manufacturing and Design of Inflatable Kirigami Actuators

Chung, Se-woong; Coutinho, Altair; Rodrigue, Hugo

doi:10.1109/lra.2022.3221318

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The kirigami rectangular-cut pattern on TPU sheets yields different outcomes compared to those reported by [34,35], who proposed studies similar to the one presented in this research. However, they utilized different configurations in terms of the distribution of rectangular cuts, boundary conditions, and the characteristics of the specimens used.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 40%

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Characterization of a Rectangular-Cut Kirigami Pattern for Soft Material Tuning

Muñoz-Barron,

Sandoval-Castro,

Castillo-Castaneda

et al. 2024

Applied Sciences

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Kirigami is the art of cutting paper to create three-dimensional figures for primarily aesthetic purposes. However, it can also modify the mechanical behavior of the resulting structure. In the literature, kirigami has been applied to modify the material’s structural behavior, such as by changing its elasticity, rigidity, volume, or any other characteristic. This article examines the behavior of a pattern of rectangular kirigami cuts on a thermoplastic polyurethane soft material structure and its influence on the mechanical parameters of the macrostructure. The results demonstrate that rectangular kirigami patterns significantly affect the stiffness of the test specimens, changing from 1635 N/m to 4020 N/m. In elongation, there is a variation from 176.6% to 218% by simply altering the height of the rectangular cut. This enables the adjustment of the soft material structure’s stiffness based on the geometry of the propagating kirigami cuts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 40%

“…Ref. [35], on the other hand, presented an inflatable actuator, which studies various cutting patterns, including the pattern inspired by rectangular cuts. In their research, they created actuators that, in their uninflated form, are configured with the pattern of rectangular cuts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of a Rectangular-Cut Kirigami Pattern for Soft Material Tuning

Muñoz-Barron,

Sandoval-Castro,

Castillo-Castaneda

et al. 2024

Applied Sciences

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“…So far, they have been used predominantly with soft wearable devices to assist joint movement. More recently, artificial muscles based on folded pouch actuators achieved impressive contraction ratios (up to 92.9%) [24][25][26]. Moreover, robotic elbows, jumping robots, and soft grippers have been developed based on folded pouch actuators [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel, Soft, Cable-Driven Parallel Robot for Minimally Invasive Surgeries Based on Folded Pouch Actuators

Yang,

Li,

Runciman

et al. 2024

Applied Sciences

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This paper introduces a soft, cable-driven parallel robot for minimally invasive surgeries. The robot comprises a pneumatic inflatable scaffold, six hydraulic, folded pouch actuators, and a hollow, cylindrical end-effector offering five degrees of freedom. A key development is the design of the pouch actuators, which are small, low-profile, simple structures, capable of a high stroke of 180° angular displacement. The scaffold, actuators, and plastic cables are economically and rapidly fabricated using laser cutting and welding techniques. Constructed primarily from soft plastic materials, the robot can be compactly folded into a cylinder measuring 110 mm in length and 14 mm in diameter. Upon inflation, the scaffold transforms into a hexagonal prism structure with side lengths of 34 mm and edge lengths of 100 mm. The kinematic model of the robot has been developed for workspace calculation and control purposes. A series of tests have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the actuator and the robot. Repeatability tests demonstrate the robot’s high repeatability, with mean and root mean square errors of 0.3645 mm and 0.4186 mm, respectively. The direct connection between the end-effector and the actuators theoretically eliminates cable friction, resulting in a hysteresis angle of less than 2°, as confirmed by the tracking results. In addition, simulated surgical tasks have been performed to further demonstrate the robot’s performance.

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