A bimorph pneumatic bending actuator by control of fiber braiding angle

Wang, Boran; McDaid, Andrew; Biglari-Abhari, Morteza; Giffney, Tim; Aw, Kean C.

doi:10.1016/j.sna.2017.02.003

Cited by 23 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Compelling implementations have been reported, including the use of these responsive actuators in assistive devices, exoskeleton robots, and wearables 276–281. Pneumatic and hydraulic actuating elements have high power‐to‐weight ratios,282 maintain compliance at cold temperatures,283 and are potentially low cost 284. An inherent limitation of this approach in certain applications is response time.…”

Section: Pneumatics and Hydraulicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Materials as Machines

2020

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of responsive materials as machines is in robotics. The vision, leadership, and research of Bar-Cohen is seminal in both invigorating and focusing current-day research activities to develop responsive materials [2] and implement [3] them as lightweight, dexterous, and gentle (e.g., soft) robotic elements. In this spirit, this review exhaustively details the materials, the nature of their stimuli-response, and discusses considerations for their implementation in robotic systems and subsystems.Robotics is a well-established but growing field of research. Sustained progress in both performance and functionality continue to be realized in commercial robotic systems largely based on conventional materials and their integration with mechanisms. A recent example is the Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics [4] (Figure 1a). The incorporation of stimuli-responsive materials in robotics has largely focused on component-level demonstrations to extend the performance of a subsystem (such as a hand or gripper).Stimuli-responsive materials, spanning nearly all classes of materials and size scales, are currently subject to widespread examination in corporate, government, and academic research laboratories (Figure 1b-d). [5][6][7] In some cases, these materials have already found widespread commercial implementation in end use and are comparatively mature. The materials and fundamentals of their responses are summarized in Figure 2. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) and ceramic piezoelectric materials are distinctive in that they are hard, stimuli-responsive materials. Deformation of these materials can produce large energy densities due to their inherent stiffness. Electroactive polymers (EAPs) remain a topic of considerable interest, particularly dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). Engineered systems are rapidly emerging and enabling performance gains in robotics, largely based on pneumatic or fluidic (such as HASEL [8] actuators) transport processes that localize deformation to generate force or produce motion. Soft materials, such as shape memory polymers (SMPs), hydrogels, and liquid crystalline polymer networks (LCNs) and elastomers (LCEs) may offer distinctive functional performance to robotic systems in allowing local control of deformation without the need for complex interfacing with mechanisms. As will be evident, each of these materials has inherent advantages and performance tradeoffs that must be considered in functional implementations. However, responsive material systems have a common obstacle to widespread use: the performance and Machines are systems that harness input power to extend or advance function. Fundamentally, machines are based on the integration of materials with mechanisms to accomplish tasks-such as generating motion or lifting an object. An emerging research paradigm is the design, synthesis, and integration of responsive materials within or as machines. Herein, a particular focus is the integration of responsive materials to enable robotic (machine) functions such as gripping, lifting, or motility (walk...

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Section: Pneumatics and Hydraulicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An inherent limitation of this approach in certain applications is response time. However, actuators and robots prepared from these materials are particularly suited for end uses that manipulate or handle soft or delicate objects 283,285…”

Section: Pneumatics and Hydraulicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials as Machines

2020

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“…Pneumatic or hydraulic actuation is obtained through the dynamic reconfiguration of gas or liquid within a chamber made of highly deformable materials. These actuators enable fast response, maintain compliance at cold temperatures, [ 232 ] and generate high forces with the existence of the external pump or compressor. [ 233 ] Both the structure of the chamber that facilitates fluid flow and the material used to fabricate affect the performance of the actuators, especially, the appropriate geometrically asymmetric structures and anisotropic materials can cause the inflation of the chamber can be converted into a directional deformation of the whole actuator.…”

Section: Fabrication Of Actuators Via Vpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vat Photopolymerization 3D Printing of Advanced Soft Sensors and Actuators: From Architecture to Function

Zhao

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2021

Adv Materials Technologies

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Fabrication and assembly of flexible sensors and soft actuators play important roles in improving the performance of wearable electronics and soft robots. Traditional manufacturing techniques have limitations in controlling the geometry and architecture of many soft actuation and sensing systems, which compromise their performance as well as applications. With the emergence of 3D printing, directly transforming 3D models into real objects becomes possible. In particular, vat photopolymerization techniques, represented by stereolithography, are capable of printing all‐in‐one and lab‐on‐a‐chip devices with fast speed and high accuracy. Novel polymer formulations, including functional resins, hydrogels, elastomers, polymer blends, composites, and biological materials, have been developed for vat photopolymerization 3D printing to produce highly stable architectures, which prompts a remarkable revolution in mechanics and materials for soft electronics. This review looks into the recent developments of vat photopolymerization 3D printing technology for lightweight engineering, personalized electronics, and soft robots.

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“…The major reasons limiting study of soft actuator pressure dynamics are: (i) non-linear nature of pneumatic flow, (ii) non-linear nature of soft actuator behaviour due to material properties, design geometry and large deformations, (iii) large variability in soft actuator design with respect to design, materials, and operating pressures [1], [32], and (iv) large variability in PSSs with respect to components and their control parameters. As a result, soft actuator dynamic response is most commonly modelled by fitting the experimentally measured response to first or second order linear systems [6], [12]- [14], [29], [33], [34]. Such models do not relay information about the underlying flow mechanics, and are insufficient for customizing PSSs to meet performance requirements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pneumatic Supply System Parameter Optimization for Soft Actuators

Joshi

Paik

2021

Soft Robotics

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Soft actuators using pressurized air are being widely used due to their inherent compliance, conformability and customizability. These actuators are powered and controlled by pneumatic supply systems (PSSs) consisting of components such as compressors, valves, tubing and reservoirs. Regardless of the choice of actuator, the PSS critically affects overall performance of soft robots because it governs the soft actuator pressure dynamics and thereby, the general dynamic behaviour. While selecting and controlling PSS components for meeting desired soft actuator performance, specifications such as PSS mass, volume and duration of operation must also be considered. Currently, there is no comprehensive study on PSS optimization for meeting dynamic performance and PSS specifications, due to limited understanding of soft actuator pressure dynamics, large solution space for PSSs, and variability in soft actuators. By considering critical parameters of PSS and soft actuators, we introduce and demonstrate PSS parameter optimization. We propose a normalized model for soft actuator pressure dynamics and quantify the relationship between PSS parameters, soft actuator design parameters and dynamic performance metrics of rise time, fall time and actuation frequency. Using these results, we optimally select and control PSS components to meet desired soft actuator performance for a soft exosuit, while minimizing mass of selected components. The measured pressure response with this prototype agrees well with simulations, with root mean square errors under 5.2%. This work is a step towards furthering the scope of soft robotics, as it enables PSS optimization, for meeting the desired soft actuator performance while also addressing PSS specifications.

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A bimorph pneumatic bending actuator by control of fiber braiding angle

Cited by 23 publications

References 22 publications

Materials as Machines

Materials as Machines

Vat Photopolymerization 3D Printing of Advanced Soft Sensors and Actuators: From Architecture to Function

Pneumatic Supply System Parameter Optimization for Soft Actuators

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