Abstract
Reconfigurable smart structures and robots require interconnects that enable the transfer of forces, power and data from one modular element to another. This is typically achieved through magnetic coupling, mechanical clips and male–female electrical contacts. In lightweight structures however, these methods are impractical due to weight and complexity. In this work we present an electroadhesive coupling (EAC) controllable interfacial connection for joining lightweight modular components, which enable simultaneous mechanical joining and electrical pass-through connections for power and communication. Active adhesion and power transfer are realized by electroadhesion (EA) using conducting electrodes on lightweight materials such as papers. We present the underlying EAC concept, materials and structures, and demonstrate this new approach using origami and kirigami structures to fabricate a modular EAC bridge and a modular EAC cuboid structural interconnection system. These novel structures have the potential for application in lightweight robotics, space systems, deployable and self-assembling and self-disassembling systems.
Highlights
Modular robots usually consist of repeated robotic modules connected together to provide versatile and configurable robotic systems that can form different structures with different capabilities, and which can adapt to unknown and unstructured environments [1]
Electroadhesion (EA) [6] is an attractive and electrically controllable adhesion technology that has been widely employed in material handling [7,8,9,10,11], climbing robotics [12,13,14], and active attachment [15,16,17,18,19,20] applications due to the fact that: (1) EA pads can be produced using lightweight materials and simple structures, (2) the energy consumption of EA is low, and (3) EA can be used on a wide range of surfaces and to lift almost any materials, including conductive and insulating materials
We assume that the contact between touching electroadhesive coupling (EAC) modules is perfectly flat ( in real cases, peeling and paper bending should be considered, as shown in figure 7(a))
Summary
Modular robots usually consist of repeated robotic modules connected together to provide versatile and configurable robotic systems that can form different structures with different capabilities, and which can adapt to unknown and unstructured environments [1]. De-adhesion or release between two surfaces can be achieved by switching off the high voltage power supply This on–off characteristic can be exploited as an electrically controllable and active connection mechanism for joining parts [17, 20], such as lightweight modular structures and systems shown in figure 1. We demonstrate novel lightweight designs and soft-smart structures using only one high voltage channel to induce coplanar EA for controllable modular connection and power transfer. We term this simultaneous electrical and mechanical coupling electroadhesive coupling (EAC). This difference can be further minimized by using advanced EA pad fabrication methods, such as flexible printed circuit board manufacturing approaches [21, 25]
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