Shape Deposition Manufacturing of a Soft, Atraumatic, Deployable Surgical Grasper1

Gafford, Joshua B.; Ding, Ye; Harris, Andrew P.; McKenna, Terrence; Polygerinos, Panagiotis; Holland, Dónal; Moser, A.J.; Walsh, Conor J.

doi:10.1115/1.4027048

Cited by 35 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The fingers of the devices are made of 3D printed segments and rubber flexure joints that are monolithically integrated by molding process. This technique also enables integration of tactile and bending sensors …”

Section: Gripping By Actuationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Robotic Grippers

et al. 2018

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Advances in soft robotics, materials science, and stretchable electronics have enabled rapid progress in soft grippers. Here, a critical overview of soft robotic grippers is presented, covering different material sets, physical principles, and device architectures. Soft gripping can be categorized into three technologies, enabling grasping by: a) actuation, b) controlled stiffness, and c) controlled adhesion. A comprehensive review of each type is presented. Compared to rigid grippers, end-effectors fabricated from flexible and soft components can often grasp or manipulate a larger variety of objects. Such grippers are an example of morphological computation, where control complexity is greatly reduced by material softness and mechanical compliance. Advanced materials and soft components, in particular silicone elastomers, shape memory materials, and active polymers and gels, are increasingly investigated for the design of lighter, simpler, and more universal grippers, using the inherent functionality of the materials. Embedding stretchable distributed sensors in or on soft grippers greatly enhances the ways in which the grippers interact with objects. Challenges for soft grippers include miniaturization, robustness, speed, integration of sensing, and control. Improved materials, processing methods, and sensing play an important role in future research.

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Section: Gripping By Actuationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Robotic Grippers

et al. 2018

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“…However, a number of fabrication methods are used to construct the structure of a soft robot. These methods include mainly molding techniques [24,34] and shape deposition manufacturing (SDM) [35] with a series of steps to fabricate the main body of the soft robot. As most of the soft robots reported in the literature have been fabricated from silicone rubbers, molding techniques or similarly SDM methods are quite suitable for the fabrication of a soft robot.…”

Section: Fabrication Methods For Soft Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanical stiffness augmentation of a 3D printed soft prosthetic finger

Mutlu

Yildiz

Alici

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM)

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Soft robotics, as a multi-disciplinary research area, has recently gained a significant momentum due to offering unconventional characteristics relative to rigid robots such as a resilient, highly dexterous, compliant and safer interaction with humans and their physical environments. However, soft robots suffer from not being able to carry their own weight which mainly depends on the modulus of elasticity of the material used to fabricate them. In this paper, we report on a practical and easy-to-implement stiffness augmentation method to enhance stiffness of soft robotic components. We fabricated a soft robotic finger which is fully compliant with flexure hinges using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technique and a stiffness augmenting unit made of thin poly(vinyl chloride)(PVC) sheets. The stiffness of the entire robotic finger was increased mechanically by linearly driving the stiffness augmenting unit. The experimental data presented show that stiffness of the finger was increased by 40 %. Depending on the material properties and thickness used for fabricating the stiffness augmenting unit, a higher rate of stiffness increase can be easily obtained. Disciplines Engineering | Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication DetailsMutlu, R., Yildiz, S. Kumbay., Alici, G. This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/aiimpapers/2320  Abstract-Soft robotics, as a multi-disciplinary research area, has recently gained a significant momentum due to offering unconventional characteristics relative to rigid robots such as a resilient, highly dexterous, compliant and safer interaction with humans and their physical environments. However, soft robots suffer from not being able to carry their own weight which mainly depends on the modulus of elasticity of the material used to fabricate them. In this paper, we report on a practical and easy-to-implement stiffness augmentation method to enhance stiffness of soft robotic components. We fabricated a soft robotic finger which is fully compliant with flexure hinges using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technique and a stiffness augmenting unit made of thin poly(vinyl chloride)(PVC) sheets. The stiffness of the entire robotic finger was increased mechanically by linearly driving the stiffness augmenting unit. The experimental data presented show that stiffness of the finger was increased by 40 %. Depending on the material properties and thickness used for fabricating the stiffness augmenting unit, a higher rate of stiffness increase can be easily obtained.

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“…The ones using a pump system generate their motion by pressurized fluid, filling the soft structure of the device through specially designed channels [19,[21][22][23]. Shape deposition manufacturing (SDM), as a rapid prototyping method, has been used in the literature to design and fabricate soft robotic fingers [24,25]. Dollar and Howe designed an underactuated soft gripper with flexure hinges fabricated via SDM which is also based on tendon cable actuation routed in the fingers of the gripper [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1. [25], d. pneumatic soft finger [21], e. snake [10], f. elepthant trunk [28] and caterpillar [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3D Printed Flexure Hinges for Soft Monolithic Prosthetic Fingers

et al. 2016

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Mechanical compliance is one of the primary properties of structures in nature playing a key role in their efficiency. This study investigates a number of commonly used flexure hinges to determine a flexure hinge morphology, which generates large displacements under a lowest possible force input. The aim of this is to design a soft and monolithic robotic finger. Fused deposition modeling, a low-cost 3D printing technique, was used to fabricate the flexure hinges and the soft monolithic robotic fingers. Experimental and finite element analyses suggest that a nonsymmetric elliptical flexure hinge is the most suitable type for use in the soft monolithic robotic finger. Having estimated the effective elastic modulus, flexion of the soft monolithic robotic fingers was simulated and this showed a good correlation with the actual experimental results. The soft monolithic robotic fingers can be employed to handle objects with unknown shapes and are also potential low-cost candidates for establishing soft and one-piece prosthetic hands with light weight. A three-finger gripper has been constructed using the identified flexure hinge to handle objects with irregular shapes such as agricultural products. AbstractMechanical compliance is one of the primary properties of structures in nature playing a key role in their efficiency. This study investigates a number of commonly used flexure hinges in order to determine flexure hinge morphology which generates larger displacements under the lowest force input. The aim of this is to design a soft and monolithic robotic finger. Fused deposition modelling (FDM), a low cost 3D printing technique, was used in order to fabricate the flexure hinges and the soft monolithic robotic fingers. Experimental and finite element analyses suggest that a non-symmetric elliptical flexure hinge is the most suitable type for use in the soft monolithic robotic finger. Having estimated the effective elastic modulus, flexion of the soft monolithic robotic fingers was simulated and this showed a good correlation with the actual experimental results. The soft monolithic robotic fingers can be employed to handle objects with unknown shapes and are also potential low cost candidates for establishing soft and one-piece prosthetic hands with light weight. A 3-finger gripper has been constructed using the identified flexure hinge to handle objects with irregular shapes such as agricultural products.

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Shape Deposition Manufacturing of a Soft, Atraumatic, Deployable Surgical Grasper1

Cited by 35 publications

References 11 publications

Soft Robotic Grippers

Soft Robotic Grippers

Mechanical stiffness augmentation of a 3D printed soft prosthetic finger

3D Printed Flexure Hinges for Soft Monolithic Prosthetic Fingers

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