A fluidic relaxation oscillator for reprogrammable sequential actuation in soft robots

Laake, Lucas C. van; Vries, J. de; Kani, Sevda Malek; Overvelde, Johannes T. B.

doi:10.1016/j.matt.2022.06.002

Cited by 33 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Figure 5B illustrates an initially flat disk that adopts in a fraction of second the shape of a crater based on the cone transformation and traps an object rolling over (see movie S6, which also demonstrates how a ball can be guided by an active track). Although the presented examples are based on a single inlet and interconnected cells, more complex kinematics could be obtained by separating cells into subgroups that would be activated separately or by embedding mechanical valves between cells that could provide a sequential actuation ( 40 , 41 ). Finally, active surfaces may also be used to manipulate liquids.…”

Section: Assembling Gaussian Cells Into Programmable Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pneumatic cells toward absolute Gaussian morphing

Gao,

Bico,

Roman

2023

Science

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On a flat map of the Earth, continents are inevitably distorted. Reciprocally, curving a plate simultaneously in two directions requires a modification of in-plane distances, as Gauss stated in his seminal theorem. Although emerging architectured materials with programmed in-plane distortions are capable of such shape morphing, an additional control of local bending is required to precisely set the final shape of the resulting three-dimensional surface. Inspired by bulliform cells in leaves of monocotyledon plants, we show how the internal structure of flat panels can be designed to program bending and in-plane distortions simultaneously when pressurized, leading to a targeted shell shape. These surfaces with controlled stiffness and fast actuation are manufactured using consumer-grade materials and open a route to large-scale shape-morphing robotics applications.

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Section: Assembling Gaussian Cells Into Programmable Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pneumatic cells toward absolute Gaussian morphing

Gao,

Bico,

Roman

2023

Science

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“…Although our metacap can accelerate the speed of the swimming robot significantly, the robot is regulated by a tethered electronic pump. Inspired by recent advances in simplifying robotic control, [ 52 ] we further design an oscillating valve and make the robot electronics‐free and untethered by actuating it using a

{CO}_{2}

canister ( Figure a). The valve consists of a monostable metacap with an aperture (3 mm in diameter) at the center of the cap, which is covered by a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) membrane (Figure 5b and S7, Supporting Information).…”

Section: Untethered Electronics‐free Robots Enabled By Oscillating Va...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrafast, Programmable, and Electronics‐Free Soft Robots Enabled by Snapping Metacaps

Jin

Yang

Maldonado

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Soft robots offer a myriad of potential because of their intrinsically compliant bodies, enabling safe interactions with humans and adaptability to unpredictable environments. However, most of them have limited actuation speeds, require complex control systems, and lack sensing capabilities. To address these challenges, herein, a class of metacaps is geometrically designed by introducing an array of ribs to a spherical cap with programmable bistabilities and snapping behaviors, enabling several unprecedented soft robotic functionalities. Specifically, a centimeter‐sized, sensor‐less metacap gripper is demonstrated that can grasp objects in 3.75 ms upon physical contact or pneumatic actuation with tunable behaviors that have little dependence on the rate of input. The grippers can be readily integrated into a robotic platform for practical applications. The metacap can further enable propelling of a swimming robot, exhibiting amplified swimming speed as well as untethered, electronics‐free swimming with tunable speeds using an oscillating valve. The metacap designs provide new strategies to enable the next‐generation soft robots to achieve high transient output energy and autonomous and electronics‐free maneuvering.

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“…Pneumatic pressure drives these systems capable of rudimentary computational tasks. Current research focus lays on using basic logic gates like AND, NOT, OR, XOR in soft robotic systems (Preston et al, 2019a;Preston et al, 2019b;Mahon et al, 2019;Nemitz et al, 2020;Xu and Perez-Arancibia, 2020;Drotman et al, 2021;Hoang et al, 2021;Hubbard et al, 2021;Pal et al, 2021;Rajappan et al, 2021;Decker et al, 2022;Kendre et al, 2022;van Laake et al, 2022) (Figure 1B). Another important function of electronics in robotics is to provide the ability to sense.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Early career scientists converse on the future of soft robotics

Tauber

Slesarenko²

2023

Front. Robot. AI

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During the recent decade, we have witnessed an extraordinary flourishing of soft robotics. Rekindled interest in soft robots is partially associated with the advances in manufacturing techniques that enable the fabrication of sophisticated multi-material robotic bodies with dimensions ranging across multiple length scales. In recent manuscripts, a reader might find peculiar-looking soft robots capable of grasping, walking, or swimming. However, the growth in publication numbers does not always reflect the real progress in the field since many manuscripts employ very similar ideas and just tweak soft body geometries. Therefore, we unreservedly agree with the sentiment that future research must move beyond “soft for soft’s sake.” Soft robotics is an undoubtedly fascinating field, but it requires a critical assessment of the limitations and challenges, enabling us to spotlight the areas and directions where soft robots will have the best leverage over their traditional counterparts. In this perspective paper, we discuss the current state of robotic research related to such important aspects as energy autonomy, electronic-free logic, and sustainability. The goal is to critically look at perspectives of soft robotics from two opposite points of view provided by early career researchers and highlight the most promising future direction, that is, in our opinion, the employment of soft robotic technologies for soft bio-inspired artificial organs.

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A fluidic relaxation oscillator for reprogrammable sequential actuation in soft robots

Cited by 33 publications

References 39 publications

Pneumatic cells toward absolute Gaussian morphing

Pneumatic cells toward absolute Gaussian morphing

Ultrafast, Programmable, and Electronics‐Free Soft Robots Enabled by Snapping Metacaps

Early career scientists converse on the future of soft robotics

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