Pub Date : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404942
Jianglong Guo, Chaoqun Xiang, T. Helps, M. Taghavi, J. Rossiter
Smart fabrics offer the potential for a new generation of soft robotics, reactive clothing and wearable technologies through the fusion of smart materials, textiles and electrical circuitry. In this work we present a range of smart fabrics and reactive textiles for soft robotics. We investigate conductive stretchable textiles for the fabrication of dielectric elastomer (DE) and electroadhesive (EA) actuators. These include a planar DE actuator, a bending DE actuator, and an EA actuator. The textile DE actuator generated a relative area expansion of 16.4 % under 9 kV while the bending actuator generated a relative expansion of 5 % under 6 kV. The EA actuator generated a shear adhesive force of 0.14 kPa at less than 5 kV. This work shows the feasibility of using conductive fabrics for soft actuation technologies. Conductive textiles have the potential to deliver simple, comfortable, multi-function and wearable soft robotic devices and complete soft robots.
{"title":"Electroactive textile actuators for wearable and soft robots","authors":"Jianglong Guo, Chaoqun Xiang, T. Helps, M. Taghavi, J. Rossiter","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404942","url":null,"abstract":"Smart fabrics offer the potential for a new generation of soft robotics, reactive clothing and wearable technologies through the fusion of smart materials, textiles and electrical circuitry. In this work we present a range of smart fabrics and reactive textiles for soft robotics. We investigate conductive stretchable textiles for the fabrication of dielectric elastomer (DE) and electroadhesive (EA) actuators. These include a planar DE actuator, a bending DE actuator, and an EA actuator. The textile DE actuator generated a relative area expansion of 16.4 % under 9 kV while the bending actuator generated a relative expansion of 5 % under 6 kV. The EA actuator generated a shear adhesive force of 0.14 kPa at less than 5 kV. This work shows the feasibility of using conductive fabrics for soft actuation technologies. Conductive textiles have the potential to deliver simple, comfortable, multi-function and wearable soft robotic devices and complete soft robots.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126433196","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405380
N. Uppalapati, Gaurav Singh, Girish Krishnan
Soft Continuum manipulators are increasingly popular because of their ability to interact safely with humans, maneuver around obstacles and enable cost-effective operation. In this paper, we investigate a unique manipulator composed of two asymmetric fiber reinforced pneumatic building blocks, one capable of bending and the other axially rotating. The combination of these building blocks can yield spatial motion including helical deformation pattern. While this design architecture is beneficial for whole arm manipulation and grasping, the asymmetric combination introduces structural coupling between the two modes rendering an analytical model hard to formulate. In this paper, we propose a Cosserat rod model to capture the deformation of the manipulator whose material properties and actuation parameters are estimated through extensive experiments. Once the model parameters are determined, the Cosserat model can be used to estimate deformation profile even in the presence of external loads. Such a framework is general and can be applied to obtain the forward and inverse kinematics of any continuum manipulator.
{"title":"Parameter estimation and modeling of a pneumatic continuum manipulator with asymmetric building blocks","authors":"N. Uppalapati, Gaurav Singh, Girish Krishnan","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405380","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405380","url":null,"abstract":"Soft Continuum manipulators are increasingly popular because of their ability to interact safely with humans, maneuver around obstacles and enable cost-effective operation. In this paper, we investigate a unique manipulator composed of two asymmetric fiber reinforced pneumatic building blocks, one capable of bending and the other axially rotating. The combination of these building blocks can yield spatial motion including helical deformation pattern. While this design architecture is beneficial for whole arm manipulation and grasping, the asymmetric combination introduces structural coupling between the two modes rendering an analytical model hard to formulate. In this paper, we propose a Cosserat rod model to capture the deformation of the manipulator whose material properties and actuation parameters are estimated through extensive experiments. Once the model parameters are determined, the Cosserat model can be used to estimate deformation profile even in the presence of external loads. Such a framework is general and can be applied to obtain the forward and inverse kinematics of any continuum manipulator.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121942951","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404927
Laura H. Blumenschein, Nathan S. Usevitch, Brian H. Do, E. Hawkes, A. Okamura
Continuum and soft robots can leverage routed actuation schemes to take on useful shapes with few actuated degrees of freedom. The addition of vine-like growth to soft continuum robots opens up possibilities for creating deployable structures from compact packages and allowing manipulation and grasping of objects in cluttered or difficult-to-navigate environments. Helical shapes, with constant curvature and torsion, provide a starting point for the shapes and actuation strategies required for such applications. Building on the geometric and static solutions for continuum robot kinematics given constant curvature assumptions, we develop a static model of helical actuation and present the implementation and validation of this model. We also discuss the forces applied by the soft robot when wrapped around an object that deforms the static shape, allowing a quantification of grasping capabilities.
{"title":"Helical actuation on a soft inflated robot body","authors":"Laura H. Blumenschein, Nathan S. Usevitch, Brian H. Do, E. Hawkes, A. Okamura","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404927","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404927","url":null,"abstract":"Continuum and soft robots can leverage routed actuation schemes to take on useful shapes with few actuated degrees of freedom. The addition of vine-like growth to soft continuum robots opens up possibilities for creating deployable structures from compact packages and allowing manipulation and grasping of objects in cluttered or difficult-to-navigate environments. Helical shapes, with constant curvature and torsion, provide a starting point for the shapes and actuation strategies required for such applications. Building on the geometric and static solutions for continuum robot kinematics given constant curvature assumptions, we develop a static model of helical actuation and present the implementation and validation of this model. We also discuss the forces applied by the soft robot when wrapped around an object that deforms the static shape, allowing a quantification of grasping capabilities.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127922540","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404916
J. Kow, P. Culmer, A. Alazmani
This paper presents a novel fabrication method for constructing thin soft layered actuators. The method is based on building up thin layers of elastomeric material with embedded strain-limiting and mask layers using a bespoke film applicator. This enables the fabrication of millimetre-scale soft actuators with complex integrated masks and/or strain-limiting layers, as demonstrated in a series of proof of concept prototypes. The prototype actuators can be cut into a desired shape via laser cutting the laminated sheet. This paper shows the feasibility of the fabrication method and the value of its use in creating thin soft layered actuators for application in soft robotics. The technique can be further developed to fabricate multi-material composite soft actuators which are thin, compact, flexible and stretchable.
{"title":"Thin soft layered actuator based on a novel fabrication technique","authors":"J. Kow, P. Culmer, A. Alazmani","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404916","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a novel fabrication method for constructing thin soft layered actuators. The method is based on building up thin layers of elastomeric material with embedded strain-limiting and mask layers using a bespoke film applicator. This enables the fabrication of millimetre-scale soft actuators with complex integrated masks and/or strain-limiting layers, as demonstrated in a series of proof of concept prototypes. The prototype actuators can be cut into a desired shape via laser cutting the laminated sheet. This paper shows the feasibility of the fabrication method and the value of its use in creating thin soft layered actuators for application in soft robotics. The technique can be further developed to fabricate multi-material composite soft actuators which are thin, compact, flexible and stretchable.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134111346","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404913
F. Visentin, P. Fiorini
Soft robotics is a well established research field that is already making an impact on the robotic community in many different ways. Despite this, the paradigm of soft materials brings also enormous challenges and unique problems. One of the most challenging topics is providing sensing capability to the soft device. In this paper we present a flexible sensors made with the same material used to build soft robots (silicon rubbers) over which a tomographic technique known as Electrical Impedance Tomography has been used as transduction method. The technique can be used to develop a flexible sensor with arbitrary size and shape that does not suffer from the presence of wires within the sensing area. This allows to have distributed and continuous sensing without the need to include multiple sensing elements. We tested the developed system by analysing its respond to the elongation and bending of the sensor. The results are promising and provide sound basis for the development of novel sensor for soft robots.
{"title":"A flexible sensor for soft-bodied robots based on electrical impedance tomography","authors":"F. Visentin, P. Fiorini","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404913","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404913","url":null,"abstract":"Soft robotics is a well established research field that is already making an impact on the robotic community in many different ways. Despite this, the paradigm of soft materials brings also enormous challenges and unique problems. One of the most challenging topics is providing sensing capability to the soft device. In this paper we present a flexible sensors made with the same material used to build soft robots (silicon rubbers) over which a tomographic technique known as Electrical Impedance Tomography has been used as transduction method. The technique can be used to develop a flexible sensor with arbitrary size and shape that does not suffer from the presence of wires within the sensing area. This allows to have distributed and continuous sensing without the need to include multiple sensing elements. We tested the developed system by analysing its respond to the elongation and bending of the sensor. The results are promising and provide sound basis for the development of novel sensor for soft robots.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124438022","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}
This study presents a novel four-fingered robotic hand to attain a soft contact and high stability under disturbances while holding an object. Each finger is constructed using a tendon-driven skeleton, granular materials corresponding to finger pulp, and a deformable rubber skin. This structure provides soft contact with an object, as well as high adaptation to its shape. Even if the object is deformable and fragile, a grasping posture can be formed without deforming the object. If the air around the granular materials in the rubber skin and jamming transition is vacuumed, the grasping posture can be fixed and the object can be grasped firmly and stably. A high grasping stability under disturbances can be attained. Additionally, the fingertips can work as a small jamming gripper to grasp an object smaller than a fingertip. An experimental investigation indicated that the proposed structure provides a high grasping force with a jamming transition with high adaptability to the object's shape.
{"title":"Multi-fingered robotic hand based on hybrid mechanism of tendon-driven and jamming transition","authors":"Kaori Mizushima, Takumi Oku, Yosuke Suzuki, Tokuo Tsuji, Tetsuyou Watanabe","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404948","url":null,"abstract":"This study presents a novel four-fingered robotic hand to attain a soft contact and high stability under disturbances while holding an object. Each finger is constructed using a tendon-driven skeleton, granular materials corresponding to finger pulp, and a deformable rubber skin. This structure provides soft contact with an object, as well as high adaptation to its shape. Even if the object is deformable and fragile, a grasping posture can be formed without deforming the object. If the air around the granular materials in the rubber skin and jamming transition is vacuumed, the grasping posture can be fixed and the object can be grasped firmly and stably. A high grasping stability under disturbances can be attained. Additionally, the fingertips can work as a small jamming gripper to grasp an object smaller than a fingertip. An experimental investigation indicated that the proposed structure provides a high grasping force with a jamming transition with high adaptability to the object's shape.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129241060","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404950
R. S. Diteesawat, T. Helps, M. Taghavi, J. Rossiter
We present a high strength artificial muscle for inclusion in an orthotic device that can deliver power at the knee joint with the aim of improving knee flexion in people with reduced mobility. The bubble artificial muscle (BAM) was developed by adapting traditional pleated pneumatic artificial muscles to achieve high contraction and tensile force. Initial gravimetric evaluation of a single BAM was performed, achieving a contraction of 23.7% while lifting a mass of 2.5 kg (over 100 times the mass of the actuator). To demonstrate the actuator's suitability for an orthosis, a device consisting of three parallel BAMs was tested with a physical pendular leg model based upon a human leg. A maximum knee flexion of 47.25 degrees was achieved, about 70% of the peak knee flexion of the average of young healthy subjects (68 degrees). 8.19 Nm of torque was delivered during testing, which is approximately 33% of the knee flexion moment during swing phase of a gait cycle. This high moment is achieved despite the low mass of the device (206.6 g). This work shows the suitability of BAMs for wearable orthotic devices such as soft assistive suits, where softness, lightness and high stress and strain are essential.
{"title":"High strength bubble artificial muscles for walking assistance","authors":"R. S. Diteesawat, T. Helps, M. Taghavi, J. Rossiter","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404950","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404950","url":null,"abstract":"We present a high strength artificial muscle for inclusion in an orthotic device that can deliver power at the knee joint with the aim of improving knee flexion in people with reduced mobility. The bubble artificial muscle (BAM) was developed by adapting traditional pleated pneumatic artificial muscles to achieve high contraction and tensile force. Initial gravimetric evaluation of a single BAM was performed, achieving a contraction of 23.7% while lifting a mass of 2.5 kg (over 100 times the mass of the actuator). To demonstrate the actuator's suitability for an orthosis, a device consisting of three parallel BAMs was tested with a physical pendular leg model based upon a human leg. A maximum knee flexion of 47.25 degrees was achieved, about 70% of the peak knee flexion of the average of young healthy subjects (68 degrees). 8.19 Nm of torque was delivered during testing, which is approximately 33% of the knee flexion moment during swing phase of a gait cycle. This high moment is achieved despite the low mass of the device (206.6 g). This work shows the suitability of BAMs for wearable orthotic devices such as soft assistive suits, where softness, lightness and high stress and strain are essential.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126710745","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404917
Yuhan Hu, Zhengnan Zhao, A. Vimal, Guy Hoffman
Robots designed for social interaction often express their internal and emotional states through nonverbal behavior. In most systems, this is achieved using facial expressions, gestures, locomotion, and tone of voice. In this paper, we propose a new expressive nonverbal channel for social robots in the form of a texture-changing skin. Our approach is inspired by biological systems, which frequently display their internal states through skin texture change. We present two designs for soft fluidic Texture Units (TU): goosebumps and spikes, and a design for an interleaved TU array that can function as an expressive social robot skin. We discuss fabrication, actuation, and control considerations, as well as a framework for mapping emotional states to texture changes. We exemplify the design in a social robot which has both a screen-projected face and the proposed texture-changing expressive skin.
{"title":"Soft skin texture modulation for social robotics","authors":"Yuhan Hu, Zhengnan Zhao, A. Vimal, Guy Hoffman","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404917","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8404917","url":null,"abstract":"Robots designed for social interaction often express their internal and emotional states through nonverbal behavior. In most systems, this is achieved using facial expressions, gestures, locomotion, and tone of voice. In this paper, we propose a new expressive nonverbal channel for social robots in the form of a texture-changing skin. Our approach is inspired by biological systems, which frequently display their internal states through skin texture change. We present two designs for soft fluidic Texture Units (TU): goosebumps and spikes, and a design for an interleaved TU array that can function as an expressive social robot skin. We discuss fabrication, actuation, and control considerations, as well as a framework for mapping emotional states to texture changes. We exemplify the design in a social robot which has both a screen-projected face and the proposed texture-changing expressive skin.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114161636","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405388
A. Stilli, Arianna Cremoni, M. Bianchi, A. Ridolfi, Filippo Gerii, F. Vannetti, H. Wurdemann, B. Allotta, K. Althoefer
Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide: post-stroke disabilities affect the upper and lower limbs, significantly undermining a subject's autonomy in the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Among post-stroke disabilities, one of the most impairing and widespread conditions is the clenched fist deformity: the subject experiences a permanent contraction of the hand, resulting in a closed hand rest pose. In this paper, the authors propose a novel light-weight inflatable soft exoskeleton device, called the AirExGlove, to deliver high-dosage, adaptive and gradual rehabilitation therapy to patients affected by clenched fist deformity. Our system is lightweight, low-cost, adaptable to any hand size and unobtrusive. The system has been extensively tested to assess the hand-opening range in which it can operate according to the severity of the patient condition, which is typically ranked on the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) scale. Experimental analysis demonstrates the suitability of the glove for patients affected by post-stroke muscle spasticity scoring up to 3 out of 4 in the MAS scale. Preliminary testing with clenched-fist patient confirmed a higher level of ergonomics of the system in comparison with rigid-linked robotic systems.
{"title":"AirExGlove — A novel pneumatic exoskeleton glove for adaptive hand rehabilitation in post-stroke patients","authors":"A. Stilli, Arianna Cremoni, M. Bianchi, A. Ridolfi, Filippo Gerii, F. Vannetti, H. Wurdemann, B. Allotta, K. Althoefer","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405388","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405388","url":null,"abstract":"Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide: post-stroke disabilities affect the upper and lower limbs, significantly undermining a subject's autonomy in the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Among post-stroke disabilities, one of the most impairing and widespread conditions is the clenched fist deformity: the subject experiences a permanent contraction of the hand, resulting in a closed hand rest pose. In this paper, the authors propose a novel light-weight inflatable soft exoskeleton device, called the AirExGlove, to deliver high-dosage, adaptive and gradual rehabilitation therapy to patients affected by clenched fist deformity. Our system is lightweight, low-cost, adaptable to any hand size and unobtrusive. The system has been extensively tested to assess the hand-opening range in which it can operate according to the severity of the patient condition, which is typically ranked on the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) scale. Experimental analysis demonstrates the suitability of the glove for patients affected by post-stroke muscle spasticity scoring up to 3 out of 4 in the MAS scale. Preliminary testing with clenched-fist patient confirmed a higher level of ergonomics of the system in comparison with rigid-linked robotic systems.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133473773","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 : 2018-04-24DOI: 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405373
A. Tonazzini, J. Shintake, Carine Rognon, V. Ramachandran, S. Mintchev, D. Floreano
Variable stiffness technologies help to solve the conflicting requirements of strength, comfort, and safety in soft exoskeletons. Here, we propose a modular variable stiffness strip based on layer jamming as a mechanical solution to constrain users' degrees of freedom and/or to implement wearable anchor points. Equipped with integrated capacitive strain sensors in the longitudinal direction, the strip is 30 mm wide and 3 mm thick and has a modular design that enables its adaptability to different morphologies and force requirements. If negative pressure in the order of tens of KPa is applied, the strip undergoes a stiffness change by a factor of 600, thus ranging between stretchability typical of elastane and inextensibility up to a maximum resisting force of 60 N. The versatility of the strip is shown by integration in an upper body exosuit.
{"title":"Variable stiffness strip with strain sensing for wearable robotics","authors":"A. Tonazzini, J. Shintake, Carine Rognon, V. Ramachandran, S. Mintchev, D. Floreano","doi":"10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2018.8405373","url":null,"abstract":"Variable stiffness technologies help to solve the conflicting requirements of strength, comfort, and safety in soft exoskeletons. Here, we propose a modular variable stiffness strip based on layer jamming as a mechanical solution to constrain users' degrees of freedom and/or to implement wearable anchor points. Equipped with integrated capacitive strain sensors in the longitudinal direction, the strip is 30 mm wide and 3 mm thick and has a modular design that enables its adaptability to different morphologies and force requirements. If negative pressure in the order of tens of KPa is applied, the strip undergoes a stiffness change by a factor of 600, thus ranging between stretchability typical of elastane and inextensibility up to a maximum resisting force of 60 N. The versatility of the strip is shown by integration in an upper body exosuit.","PeriodicalId":306255,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133049518","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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