Design and development of a toroidal flexure for extended motion applications

Cuttino, James F.; Dijck, Bart H.C.A. van; Brown, A.

doi:10.1016/j.precisioneng.2003.08.005

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

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“…10,11 For example, the proposed soft-robot locomotion strategies include the use of gel-like actuators comprising electro-active polymers that enable simultaneous deformation of the entire robot volume, the use of toroidal flexure devices that operate in the manner of a radially symmetric treadmill, and the use of peristalsis in the manner of leeches and worms. 2,12,13 Given the lack of a clear methodology for developing gaits for soft robots, we ask a fundamental question. Can the existing tools for rigid-body simulation be adapted for use in designing gaits for soft robots?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental verification of soft-robot gaits evolved using a lumped dynamic model

et al. 2011

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SUMMARYWhen generating gaits for soft robots (those with no explicit joints), it is not evident that undulating control schemes are the most efficient. In considering alternative control schemes, however, the computational costs of evaluating continuum mechanic models of soft robots represent a significant bottleneck. We consider the use of lumped dynamic models for soft robotic systems. Such models have not been employed previously to design gaits for soft robotic systems, though they are widely used to simulate robots with compliant joints. A major question is whether these methods are accurate enough to be representations of soft robots to enable gait design and optimization. This paper addresses the potential “reality gap” between simulation and experiment for the particular case of a soft caterpillar-like robot. Experiments with a prototype soft crawler demonstrate that the lumped dynamic model can capture essential soft-robot mechanics well enough to enable gait optimization. Significantly, experiments verified that a prototype robot achieved high performance for control patterns optimized in simulation and dramatically reduced performance for gait parameters perturbed from their optimized values.

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