Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121983
Aiden Shaevitz, M. Johnston, J. Davidson
In this paper we present the design and experimental characterization of a tactile sensor for underwater manipulation. Water turbidity in energetic underwater environments can degrade the performance of perception sensors, making the execution of already difficult manipulation tasks even more challenging. Tactile sensing can provide useful information in these environments. One popular type of tactile sensor for terrestrial applications uses barometric pressure sensors encased in a soft elastomer. However, the performance of these sensors in changing ambient pressures has not been investigated. We designed a custom testbed to characterize high-pressure MEMS barometers embedded in two types of silicone up to 50 PSIG ambient pressure. Using characterization results from a single barometer, we then designed two 2 × 4 tactile grids. Datasets of differential pressures (against a control sensor) for varying contact locations were used to train feedforward neural networks for point load estimation. Results show that for the grid encased in softer silicone, the model performance improved as the ambient pressure increased (average RMSE of 0.33 mm).
{"title":"Design, Characterization, and Modeling of Barometric Tactile Sensors for Underwater Applications","authors":"Aiden Shaevitz, M. Johnston, J. Davidson","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121983","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121983","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we present the design and experimental characterization of a tactile sensor for underwater manipulation. Water turbidity in energetic underwater environments can degrade the performance of perception sensors, making the execution of already difficult manipulation tasks even more challenging. Tactile sensing can provide useful information in these environments. One popular type of tactile sensor for terrestrial applications uses barometric pressure sensors encased in a soft elastomer. However, the performance of these sensors in changing ambient pressures has not been investigated. We designed a custom testbed to characterize high-pressure MEMS barometers embedded in two types of silicone up to 50 PSIG ambient pressure. Using characterization results from a single barometer, we then designed two 2 × 4 tactile grids. Datasets of differential pressures (against a control sensor) for varying contact locations were used to train feedforward neural networks for point load estimation. Results show that for the grid encased in softer silicone, the model performance improved as the ambient pressure increased (average RMSE of 0.33 mm).","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"71 7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126131883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122032
Jonathan Tirado, Jonas Jørgensen, A. Rafsanjani
Earthworms can crawl on the ground and burrow through the soil through the sequential actuation of two types of muscles. The elongated soft body of an earthworm extends by contraction of circularly arranged external muscles and swells by contraction of longitudinally oriented muscles. Despite their slow movement, earthworms offer a rich model for developing next-generation limbless soft robots for many applications, including automated sensing of soil properties and microbiomes, gastrointestinal tract endoscopy, and sewer pipe inspection. Here, we take inspiration from the interwoven morphology of earthworms' musculature to create a multimodal soft actuator. We devised a prototyping technique for fabricating composite pneumatic actuators by coiling prestretched inflatable tubes around a cylindrical soft actuator at varying tension. We conducted comprehensive experiments and characterized the evolution of pressure and elongation of these multimodal actu-ators while inflating the inner and outer actuators in various sequential orders. Finally, we harnessed one of the identified actuation sequences to achieve in-pipe locomotion.
{"title":"Earthworm-inspired multimodal soft actuators","authors":"Jonathan Tirado, Jonas Jørgensen, A. Rafsanjani","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122032","url":null,"abstract":"Earthworms can crawl on the ground and burrow through the soil through the sequential actuation of two types of muscles. The elongated soft body of an earthworm extends by contraction of circularly arranged external muscles and swells by contraction of longitudinally oriented muscles. Despite their slow movement, earthworms offer a rich model for developing next-generation limbless soft robots for many applications, including automated sensing of soil properties and microbiomes, gastrointestinal tract endoscopy, and sewer pipe inspection. Here, we take inspiration from the interwoven morphology of earthworms' musculature to create a multimodal soft actuator. We devised a prototyping technique for fabricating composite pneumatic actuators by coiling prestretched inflatable tubes around a cylindrical soft actuator at varying tension. We conducted comprehensive experiments and characterized the evolution of pressure and elongation of these multimodal actu-ators while inflating the inner and outer actuators in various sequential orders. Finally, we harnessed one of the identified actuation sequences to achieve in-pipe locomotion.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124747322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122116
Francesco Piqué, F. Stella, Josie Hughes, E. Falotico, C. D. Santina
Elephants and other animals heavily rely on the sense of smell to operate. Soft robots would also benefit from an artificial sense of smell, which could be helpful in typical soft robotic tasks such as search and rescue, pipe inspection, and all the tasks involving unstructured environments. This work proposes an artificial nose on a soft robotic arm that ensures separate smell concentration readings. We propose designing the nose to generate a one-to-one matching between the sensors' inputs and the actuators. This design choice allows us to implement a simple control strategy tailored to reach a dynamically varying smell in the environment, which we validate on a two-segment tendon-driven soft robotic arm equipped with the proposed artificial nose. We also propose and validate in simulation a control strategy for reaching tasks in the case of a stationary smell.
{"title":"Smell Driven Navigation for Soft Robotic Arms: Artificial Nose and Control","authors":"Francesco Piqué, F. Stella, Josie Hughes, E. Falotico, C. D. Santina","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122116","url":null,"abstract":"Elephants and other animals heavily rely on the sense of smell to operate. Soft robots would also benefit from an artificial sense of smell, which could be helpful in typical soft robotic tasks such as search and rescue, pipe inspection, and all the tasks involving unstructured environments. This work proposes an artificial nose on a soft robotic arm that ensures separate smell concentration readings. We propose designing the nose to generate a one-to-one matching between the sensors' inputs and the actuators. This design choice allows us to implement a simple control strategy tailored to reach a dynamically varying smell in the environment, which we validate on a two-segment tendon-driven soft robotic arm equipped with the proposed artificial nose. We also propose and validate in simulation a control strategy for reaching tasks in the case of a stationary smell.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125590855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122017
Enrico Donato, Y. Ansari, C. Laschi, E. Falotico
Enabling reaching capabilities in highly redundant continuum robot arms is an active area of research. Existing solutions comprise of task-space controllers, whose proper functioning is still limited to laboratory environments. In contrast, this work proposes a novel plant-inspired behaviour-based controller that exploits information obtained from proximity sensing embedded near the end-effector to move towards a desired spatial target. The controller is tested on a 9-DoF modular cable-driven continuum arm for reaching multiple set-points in space. The results are promising for the deployability of these systems into unstructured environments.
{"title":"Plant-inspired behavior-based controller to enable reaching in redundant continuum robot arms","authors":"Enrico Donato, Y. Ansari, C. Laschi, E. Falotico","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122017","url":null,"abstract":"Enabling reaching capabilities in highly redundant continuum robot arms is an active area of research. Existing solutions comprise of task-space controllers, whose proper functioning is still limited to laboratory environments. In contrast, this work proposes a novel plant-inspired behaviour-based controller that exploits information obtained from proximity sensing embedded near the end-effector to move towards a desired spatial target. The controller is tested on a 9-DoF modular cable-driven continuum arm for reaching multiple set-points in space. The results are promising for the deployability of these systems into unstructured environments.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"78 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125929065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122006
Ciera McFarland, Margaret M. Coad
Soft, growing inflated beam robots, also known as everting vine robots, have previously been shown to navigate confined spaces with ease. Less is known about their ability to navigate three-dimensional open spaces where they have the potential to collapse under their own weight as they attempt to move through a space. Previous work has studied collapse of inflated beams and vine robots due to purely transverse or purely axial external loads. Here, we extend previous models to predict the length at which straight vine robots will collapse under their own weight at arbitrary launch angle relative to gravity, inflated diameter, and internal pressure. Our model successfully predicts the general trends of collapse behavior of straight vine robots. We find that collapse length increases nonlinearly with the robot's launch angle magnitude, linearly with the robot's diameter, and with the square root of the robot's internal pressure. We also demonstrate the use of our model to determine the robot parameters required to grow a vine robot across a gap in the floor. This work forms the foundation of an approach for modeling the collapse of vine robots and inflated beams in arbitrary shapes.
{"title":"Collapse of Straight Soft Growing Inflated Beam Robots Under Their Own Weight","authors":"Ciera McFarland, Margaret M. Coad","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122006","url":null,"abstract":"Soft, growing inflated beam robots, also known as everting vine robots, have previously been shown to navigate confined spaces with ease. Less is known about their ability to navigate three-dimensional open spaces where they have the potential to collapse under their own weight as they attempt to move through a space. Previous work has studied collapse of inflated beams and vine robots due to purely transverse or purely axial external loads. Here, we extend previous models to predict the length at which straight vine robots will collapse under their own weight at arbitrary launch angle relative to gravity, inflated diameter, and internal pressure. Our model successfully predicts the general trends of collapse behavior of straight vine robots. We find that collapse length increases nonlinearly with the robot's launch angle magnitude, linearly with the robot's diameter, and with the square root of the robot's internal pressure. We also demonstrate the use of our model to determine the robot parameters required to grow a vine robot across a gap in the floor. This work forms the foundation of an approach for modeling the collapse of vine robots and inflated beams in arbitrary shapes.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"64 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124096534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121925
Calder Wilson, Joseph Karam, Callen Votzke, Farhan Rozaidi, Camille J. Palmer, R. Hatton, M. Johnston
Soft robots are uniquely suited for applications in inspection, search and rescue, and exploration in confined and unstructured environments. Leveraging the benefits of these soft robots will increasingly require the integration of equally compliant electronic components for sensing, actuation, control, and computation to maintain mechanical conformability at the system level. In this work, we demonstrate the integration of modular electronic sensors into a robotic snake platform using stretchable interconnects. Aimed at applications in nuclear infrastructure inspection, included sensors include visual perception and on-board radiation spectroscopy. In addition to high mechanical compliance, the stretchable interconnect enables physical separation of analog sensors and digital electronics for use in radiation environments. We present details of stretchable electronics fabrication and integration, standalone validation of integrated sensors, and field test results from a simulated nuclear infrastructure inspection task.
{"title":"Modular Sensor Integration into Soft Robots using Stretchable Wires for Nuclear Infrastructure Inspection and Radiation Spectroscopy","authors":"Calder Wilson, Joseph Karam, Callen Votzke, Farhan Rozaidi, Camille J. Palmer, R. Hatton, M. Johnston","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121925","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121925","url":null,"abstract":"Soft robots are uniquely suited for applications in inspection, search and rescue, and exploration in confined and unstructured environments. Leveraging the benefits of these soft robots will increasingly require the integration of equally compliant electronic components for sensing, actuation, control, and computation to maintain mechanical conformability at the system level. In this work, we demonstrate the integration of modular electronic sensors into a robotic snake platform using stretchable interconnects. Aimed at applications in nuclear infrastructure inspection, included sensors include visual perception and on-board radiation spectroscopy. In addition to high mechanical compliance, the stretchable interconnect enables physical separation of analog sensors and digital electronics for use in radiation environments. We present details of stretchable electronics fabrication and integration, standalone validation of integrated sensors, and field test results from a simulated nuclear infrastructure inspection task.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"249 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127866779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121931
A. Chooi, T. Calais, S. Dontu, S. Jain, A. C. Ugalde, G. Hiramandala, E. Kanhere, Truman Stalin, P. V. y Alvarado
The suction capabilities of octopuses' arms are an evolutionary marvel in surface adhesion that have long fascinated scientists and engineers in soft robotics. In this study, we report the design and the fabrication of a pad inspired by the suckers of the octopus O. vulgaris. The pad houses several pores connected to a vacuum system on one end and covered by a soft membrane on the other end. The membrane is used as an interface between the pad and payloads. Vacuum actuation strains the membrane resulting in a secondary passive vacuum space between the pad and a payload. Material composition and geometric parameters of the pad were first optimized using finite element analysis to maximize both conformability to rough surfaces and adhesion force. The optimized pad exhibited a 73% enhancement in adhesion force compared to a traditional pad, with the ability to adhere strongly to objects with smooth, rough, or wet surfaces, even with a small initial contact area. Finally, the pad was tested in a single joint soft finger mounted on a small gripper to showcase basic gripping capabilities on a wide range of objects.
{"title":"Passive Suction Enhanced Adhesion Pads for Soft Grippers","authors":"A. Chooi, T. Calais, S. Dontu, S. Jain, A. C. Ugalde, G. Hiramandala, E. Kanhere, Truman Stalin, P. V. y Alvarado","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121931","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121931","url":null,"abstract":"The suction capabilities of octopuses' arms are an evolutionary marvel in surface adhesion that have long fascinated scientists and engineers in soft robotics. In this study, we report the design and the fabrication of a pad inspired by the suckers of the octopus O. vulgaris. The pad houses several pores connected to a vacuum system on one end and covered by a soft membrane on the other end. The membrane is used as an interface between the pad and payloads. Vacuum actuation strains the membrane resulting in a secondary passive vacuum space between the pad and a payload. Material composition and geometric parameters of the pad were first optimized using finite element analysis to maximize both conformability to rough surfaces and adhesion force. The optimized pad exhibited a 73% enhancement in adhesion force compared to a traditional pad, with the ability to adhere strongly to objects with smooth, rough, or wet surfaces, even with a small initial contact area. Finally, the pad was tested in a single joint soft finger mounted on a small gripper to showcase basic gripping capabilities on a wide range of objects.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121286269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122093
A. Keller, Qiukai Qi, Yogeenth Kumaresan, A. Conn, J. Rossiter
Intelligent materials offer new avenues when designing sustainable robotics as they allow for the creation of dynamic constructs which react autonomously to changes in the environment, such as humidity. Here we present a novel humidity actuator which exploits the unique property of deliquescent salts to allow for the spontaneous rehydration of hydrogels in ambient environments. By soaking a 2% w/v alginate, 3% w/v Agar composite in 1M calcium chloride, an intelligent humidity-driven actuator was developed. The hydrogel was able to gain 73.8±7.1% of its weight from a dehydrated state in just 6 hours through water absorption from ambient air. Using this novel formulation, linear and bilayer bending actuators were constructed. In addition to this, a biodegradable deliquescence-actuated artificial flower was demonstrated, highlighting this material's potential to act as an intelligent humidity actuator for the construction of environmentally-reactive biomimetic sustainable robotics.
{"title":"Biodegradable Humidity Actuators for Sustainable Soft Robotics using Deliquescent Hydrogels","authors":"A. Keller, Qiukai Qi, Yogeenth Kumaresan, A. Conn, J. Rossiter","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10122093","url":null,"abstract":"Intelligent materials offer new avenues when designing sustainable robotics as they allow for the creation of dynamic constructs which react autonomously to changes in the environment, such as humidity. Here we present a novel humidity actuator which exploits the unique property of deliquescent salts to allow for the spontaneous rehydration of hydrogels in ambient environments. By soaking a 2% w/v alginate, 3% w/v Agar composite in 1M calcium chloride, an intelligent humidity-driven actuator was developed. The hydrogel was able to gain 73.8±7.1% of its weight from a dehydrated state in just 6 hours through water absorption from ambient air. Using this novel formulation, linear and bilayer bending actuators were constructed. In addition to this, a biodegradable deliquescence-actuated artificial flower was demonstrated, highlighting this material's potential to act as an intelligent humidity actuator for the construction of environmentally-reactive biomimetic sustainable robotics.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123124661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121932
Satyam Bhawsinghka, Natasha Troxler, S. Walker, J. Davidson
Ahstract-This work describes the development of a hydraulic knuckle designed to modulate joint stiffness in an underactuated, underwater gripper. The knuckles are pressurized with water to control their stiffness. Compression and tension characterization showed that the knuckles can provide up to 34 N of resistive force in compression and 47 N of resistive force in tension. Stiffness of the knuckles was found to vary linearly with pressure. A parallel, tendon-driven underactuated gripper was fabricated to explore two relationships: finger configurations vs. knuckle hydraulic pressure and joint stiffness vs. grasp strength. This gripper demonstrated that softer knuckles enable a wrap grasp and stiffer knuckles enable a pinch grasp. Grasp strength testing showed that the planar hand can resist up to 23 N of force at 200 mA motor current, and stiffer grasps can sustain greater pull out forces.
{"title":"Hydraulic Modulation of Silicone Knuckles for Variable Control of Joint Stiffness","authors":"Satyam Bhawsinghka, Natasha Troxler, S. Walker, J. Davidson","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121932","url":null,"abstract":"Ahstract-This work describes the development of a hydraulic knuckle designed to modulate joint stiffness in an underactuated, underwater gripper. The knuckles are pressurized with water to control their stiffness. Compression and tension characterization showed that the knuckles can provide up to 34 N of resistive force in compression and 47 N of resistive force in tension. Stiffness of the knuckles was found to vary linearly with pressure. A parallel, tendon-driven underactuated gripper was fabricated to explore two relationships: finger configurations vs. knuckle hydraulic pressure and joint stiffness vs. grasp strength. This gripper demonstrated that softer knuckles enable a wrap grasp and stiffer knuckles enable a pinch grasp. Grasp strength testing showed that the planar hand can resist up to 23 N of force at 200 mA motor current, and stiffer grasps can sustain greater pull out forces.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"65 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115862065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121975
Seoyeon Ham, B. B. Kang, K. Abishek, HyunYong Lee, Wansoo Kim
This paper presents a tunable stiffness actuator with a soft-rigid combined layer jamming mechanism. The tunable stiffness actuator is aimed to be integrated into an exosuit to prevent ankle sprain and avoid or mitigate the development of chronic ankle instability. The main purpose of the soft-rigid layer jamming mechanism is to produce large stiffness with a small volume and achieve a linear stiffness characteristic. To this end, the actuator is designed to include rigid retainer pieces within the soft silicone layers, and each soft-rigid layer is jammed to induce stiffness changes. To validate the stiffness characteristics of the proposed soft-rigid actuator, a series of experiments were performed and stiffness changes were investigated for varying jamming states from unjammed to fully jammed states. Increasing the number of jamming layer effectively increased the actuator stiffness, which was consistent with expected results from the analytical model. Soft-rigid actuator's stiffness at the fully jammed state was 212.1% and 123.1% higher than the unjammed state for one-side and both sides anchored conditions, respectively. Compared to the soft actuator without the rigid retainer, the soft-rigid actuator exhibited a more linear characteristic (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.990 and 0.997 for one-side and both sides anchored conditions, respectively). Moreover, the soft-rigid actuator achieved significantly higher stiffness than the soft actuator in all jamming states (at least 41.3% increase in each jamming state). The results suggest a potential use of the tunable stiffness actuator to develop a soft ankle exosuit with highly variable but linear stiffness characteristics.
{"title":"Design and Validation of Tunable Stiffness Actuator using Soft-Rigid Combined Layer Jamming Mechanism","authors":"Seoyeon Ham, B. B. Kang, K. Abishek, HyunYong Lee, Wansoo Kim","doi":"10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121975","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121975","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a tunable stiffness actuator with a soft-rigid combined layer jamming mechanism. The tunable stiffness actuator is aimed to be integrated into an exosuit to prevent ankle sprain and avoid or mitigate the development of chronic ankle instability. The main purpose of the soft-rigid layer jamming mechanism is to produce large stiffness with a small volume and achieve a linear stiffness characteristic. To this end, the actuator is designed to include rigid retainer pieces within the soft silicone layers, and each soft-rigid layer is jammed to induce stiffness changes. To validate the stiffness characteristics of the proposed soft-rigid actuator, a series of experiments were performed and stiffness changes were investigated for varying jamming states from unjammed to fully jammed states. Increasing the number of jamming layer effectively increased the actuator stiffness, which was consistent with expected results from the analytical model. Soft-rigid actuator's stiffness at the fully jammed state was 212.1% and 123.1% higher than the unjammed state for one-side and both sides anchored conditions, respectively. Compared to the soft actuator without the rigid retainer, the soft-rigid actuator exhibited a more linear characteristic (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.990 and 0.997 for one-side and both sides anchored conditions, respectively). Moreover, the soft-rigid actuator achieved significantly higher stiffness than the soft actuator in all jamming states (at least 41.3% increase in each jamming state). The results suggest a potential use of the tunable stiffness actuator to develop a soft ankle exosuit with highly variable but linear stiffness characteristics.","PeriodicalId":250981,"journal":{"name":"2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130832204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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