Abstract
A variety of soft robots with prospective applications has been developed in recent years. As a key component of a soft robot, the soft actuator plays a critical role and hence must be designed carefully according to application requirements. The soft body may deform in undesired directions if no restraint is endued, due to the isotropy of the pure soft material. For some soft robots such as an inchworm-like biped climbing robot, the actuation direction must be constrained with the appropriate structure design of the soft actuator. This study proposes a pneumatic soft actuator (PSA) to achieve pure in-plane bending motion with anisotropic soft and rigid restraints. The in-plane bending pneumatic soft actuator (2D-PSA) is developed with a composite structure where a metal hinge belt is embedded into the soft material. The design method, material choice, and fabrication process are presented in detail in this paper. Tests are conducted to measure the actuating performance of 2D-PSA in terms of the relationship between the bending angle or force and the input air pressure. Dynamic response is also measured with a laser tracker. Furthermore, a comparative experiment is carried out between the presented 2D-PSA and a general PSA, with results verifying the effectiveness of the presented 2D-PSA. A robot consisting of two serially-connected 2D-PSAs and three pneumatic suckers, which can climb on a flat surface mimicking a snake’s locomotion, is developed as an application demo of the presented 2D-PSA. Its locomotion capability presents the in-plane performance and mobility of 2D-PSA.
Highlights
Soft robotics is a continuously-growing research field in which smart materials and advanced control methods are applied to develop novel robots to achieve target functions
The actuating deformation of the soft body must be constrained with the appropriate structure design of the soft actuator
A smart pneumatic soft actuator, called 2D-PSA, with anisotropic soft and rigid restraints for pure in-plane bending motion was proposed in this paper
Summary
Soft robotics is a continuously-growing research field in which smart materials and advanced control methods are applied to develop novel robots to achieve target functions. Structure, material, and stimuli generally differ, their actuation motion can be divided into three basic types: bending, extending/contracting, and twisting [19] These actuators can be configured into soft robotic systems to fulfill designated applications. A bipolar network made of soft materials was studied both experimentally and numerically to evaluate the precise role of geometry [21] These studies were able to achieve their target motions, but not address the design method to make them anisotropic rigorously. Without in-plane motion restraints, many situations can lead to accidental distortion of a general PSA by external forces For this reason, both anisotropic soft and rigid materials are included in the proposed design as soft and rigid restraints to achieve pure in-plane bending. Its excellent locomotion capability verifies 2D-PSA’s remarkable 2D performance and mobility
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