Abstract
Robots have an important role during inspection, clean-up, and sample collection in unstructured radiation environments inaccessible to humans. The advantages of soft robots, such as body morphing, high compliance, and energy absorption during impact, make them suitable for operating under extreme conditions. Despite their promise, the usefulness of soft robots under a radiation environment has yet to be assessed. In this work, we evaluate the effectiveness of soft robots fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a common fabrication material, under radiation for the first time. We investigated gamma-induced mechanical damage in the PDMS materials' mechanical properties, including elongation, tensile strength, and stiffness. We selected three radiation environments from the nuclear industry to represent a wide range of radiation and then submerged a 3D printed hexapus robot into a radiation environment to estimate its operation time. Finally, to test the reliability of the 3D printed soft robots, we compared their performances with molded counterparts. To analyze performance results in detail, we also investigated dimensional errors and the effects of fabrication methods, nozzle size, and print direction on the stiffness of PDMS material. Results of this study show that with increasing exposure to gamma irradiation, the mechanical properties of PDMS decrease in functionality but are minimally impacted up to 20 kGy gamma radiation. Considering the fractional changes to the PDMS mechanical properties, it is safe to assume that soft robots could operate for 12 h in two of the three proposed radiation environments. We also verified that the 3D printed soft robots can perform better than or equal to their molded counterparts while being more reliable.
Highlights
Robotics research has a significant role when utilizing robots for inspection, clean-up, and sample collection in hazardous environments inaccessible to humans
First, we present the changes in the mechanical properties of PDMS samples after gamma irradiation and analyze the potential of the soft robots under radiation environments
We verify the viability of soft robots under 3 selected radiation environments based on potential tasks in the nuclear industry
Summary
Robotics research has a significant role when utilizing robots for inspection, clean-up, and sample collection in hazardous environments inaccessible to humans. To fill this research gap, and to estimate fabricated soft robots’ operation time under radiation, we investigated gamma-induced mechanical damage in PDMS and sent a 3D printed soft robot into an underwater radiation environment. To estimate fabricated soft robots’ operation time in these radiation environments, we measured gamma-induced changes in mechanical properties such as elongation, tensile strength, and compression of the PDMS material. By using 3D printing as the fabrication method, we increased design complexity of the hexapus robot, which enabled us to test its operation time under radiation environment. We describe improvements to the previous 3D silicone printer design that enabled us to 3D print a hexapus robot (Figure 1A) capable of swimming in an underwater radiation environment. By considering the printer modifications, improved print parameters and design limitations detailed we achieved the AM of the hexapus robot
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