Performance Optimization of Polymer Fibre Actuators for Soft Robotics

Rukhlenko, Ivan D.; Farajikhah, Syamak; Lilley, Charles R.; Georgis, Andre; Large, M. I.; Fleming, Simon

doi:10.3390/polym12020454

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Another approach is to fabricate a new type of grasping tools using inherently compliant materials. Soft pneumatic elastomer actuators made of silicone elastomeric materials with low Young’s modulus can perform better in the safe interaction with delicate and fragile objects than the instruments with rigid structures due to their inherent compliance [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], which makes them well-suited to grip soft tissues. These deformable materials permit the manipulation of delicate tissues to be achieved by providing safe adaptable gripping.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Study on Grip-Induced Nerve Damage Caused by a Soft Pneumatic Elastomeric Gripper

et al. 2022

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Forceps, clamps, and haemostats are essential surgical tools required for all surgical interventions. While they are widely used to grasp, hold, and manipulate soft tissue, their metallic rigid structure may cause tissue damage due to the potential risk of applying excessive gripping forces. Soft pneumatic surgical grippers fabricated by silicone elastomeric materials with low Young’s modulus may offer a promising solution to minimize this unintentional damage due to their inherent excellent compliance and compressibility. The goal of this work is to evaluate and compare the grip-induced nerve damage caused by the soft pneumatic elastomeric gripper and conventional haemostats during surgical manipulation. Twenty-four Wistar rats (male, seven weeks) are subjected to sciatic nerve compression (right hind limb) using the soft pneumatic elastomer gripper and haemostats. A histopathological analysis is conducted at different time-points (Day 0, Day 3, Day 7 and Day 13) after the nerve compression to examine the morphological tissue changes between the rats in the ‘soft gripper’ group and the ‘haemostats’ group. A free walking analysis is also performed to examine the walking function of the rats after recovery from different time points. Comparing the rigid haemostats and soft gripper groups, there is a visible difference in the degree of axonal vacuolar degeneration between the groups, which could suggest the presence of substantial nerve damage in the ‘haemostats’ group. The rats in the haemostats group exhibited reduced right hind paw pressure and paw size after the nerve compression. It shows that the rats tend not to exert more force on the affected right hind limb in the haemostats group compared to the soft gripper group. In addition, the stance duration was reduced in the injured right hind limb compared to the normal left hind limb in the haemostats group. These observations show that the soft pneumatic surgical gripper made of silicone elastomeric materials might reduce the severity of grip-induced damage by providing a safe compliant grip compared to the conventional haemostats. The soft pneumatic elastomer gripper could complement the current surgical gripping tool in delicate tissue manipulation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Study on Grip-Induced Nerve Damage Caused by a Soft Pneumatic Elastomeric Gripper

et al. 2022

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“…The limitations of pneumatic actuators are: 1) the need for a complex sealed multi‐pipe system; 2) the lack of precise control; 3) the need for a huge, non‐portable external inflation system. [ 32–34 ] The soft actuators using thermal expansive materials are usually fabricated with two layers whose coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) are significantly different, which will make the actuator bend as the temperature changed. The change of temperature can be provided by the heat between two layers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transparent Soft Electrothermal Actuators with Integrated Cu Nanowire Heater for Soft Robotics

Chang

Zhao

Song

et al. 2021

Macro Materials & Eng

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Soft actuators with high flexibility have received widespread attention. Here, a transparent electrothermal soft actuator is designed and manufactured via sandwiched copper nanowires (Cu NWs) between two kinds of flexible substrates with different thermal expansion characteristics (polyethylene‐terephthalate (PET) and low‐density polyethylene (LDPE)). In order to improve bending characteristics of the soft actuator, heating performance of heaters with different widths is studied, and the bending characteristics of strain gauges under different voltages are also studied. The fabricated soft actuator can produce a bend of 90° and provide about 1 mN of force at a low voltage of 6 V. The application of this type of soft actuator is demonstrated toward biomimetic robotics, a two‐finger flexible transparent gripper is designed, where two soft actuators are utilized to simulate the movements of human fingers and realizes the operation of picking and placing fine objects. In addition, the topography of the object can be feasibly observed during clamping process of the soft actuator with certain light transmittance, which is favorable for the soft gripper application.

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“…Very recently, Grena et al 22 utilized the well‐established fiber drawing technique, involving drawing in a furnace from a macroscale preform, to fabricate solid‐core PCL fibers. The fiber drawing technique is a suitable method for low‐cost mass production of fibers with desired miniaturized features difficult to fabricate at scale with traditional techniques 12,23 . However, a post‐processing chemical etching step was required to remove the cladding material used to sleeve PCL.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fiber drawing technique is a suitable method for low-cost mass production of fibers with desired miniaturized features difficult to fabricate at scale with traditional techniques. 12,23 However, a post-processing chemical etching step was required to remove the cladding material used to sleeve PCL.…”

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confidence: 99%

Thermally drawn biodegradable fibers with tailored topography for biomedical applications

et al. 2020

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There is a growing demand for polymer fiber scaffolds for biomedical applications and tissue engineering. Biodegradable polymers such as polycaprolactone have attracted particular attention due to their applicability to tissue engineering and optical neural interfacing. Here we report on a scalable and inexpensive fiber fabrication technique, which enables the drawing of PCL fibers in a single process without the use of auxiliary cladding. We demonstrate the possibility of drawing PCL fibers of different geometries and cross‐sections, including solid‐core, hollow‐core, and grooved fibers. The solid‐core fibers of different geometries are shown to support cell growth, through successful MCF‐7 breast cancer cell attachment and proliferation. We also show that the hollow‐core fibers exhibit a relatively stable optical propagation loss after submersion into a biological fluid for up to 21 days with potential to be used as waveguides in optical neural interfacing. The capacity to tailor the surface morphology of biodegradable PCL fibers and their non‐cytotoxicity make the proposed approach an attractive platform for biomedical applications and tissue engineering.

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Performance Optimization of Polymer Fibre Actuators for Soft Robotics

Cited by 9 publications

References 44 publications

A Preliminary Study on Grip-Induced Nerve Damage Caused by a Soft Pneumatic Elastomeric Gripper

A Preliminary Study on Grip-Induced Nerve Damage Caused by a Soft Pneumatic Elastomeric Gripper

Transparent Soft Electrothermal Actuators with Integrated Cu Nanowire Heater for Soft Robotics

Thermally drawn biodegradable fibers with tailored topography for biomedical applications

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