MODAL FREQUENCY ANALYSES OF THE VARIABLE STIFFNESS MECHANISM DESIGN OF THE SOFT ROBOTIC SYSTEM

Abstract

In this study, mechanism design and numerical analysis are investigated and directly simulated through additively manufacturing materials of the thermoplastic polyurethane TPU and ABS. Systematic motion planning of humanoid arm systems improved concerning the designed soft robotic arm-like variable stiffness system through the completed novel methodology for the analysis. Soft robotics variable stiffness for mechanism design is a novel research area. Additionally, the humanoid arm-like variable stiffness mechanism herein is taken as a case study in this technology. The variable stiffness types for soft robotics are inflatable robotic technology, smart materials technology, mechanism technology, and a combination of them. The variable stiffness mechanism has a novel design opportunity via the boundary conditions and the orientation of the initial conditions for soft robotics. The relation between the boundary conditions and variable stiffness is not investigated sufficiently. The novel field of study completed herein, the soft robotics variable stiffness, is a fundamental investigation for further development in the mechanism design. Variable stiffness mechanisms can transmit the translational and rotational motions into required directions with required displacements and applied forces on the multibody systems. The stiffness for the fixed-free structural constraint boundary condition of the specified initial condition orientation is 8 Nm/rd compared to the stiffness value of the 65.6 Nm/rd fixed-fixed end boundary condition.