Development of Giacometti Arm With Balloon Body

This description of "soft robotics" is not intended to be a conventional review, in the sense of a comprehensive technical summary of a developing field. Rather, its objective is to describe soft robotics as a new field-one that offers opportunities to chemists and materials scientists who like to make "things" and to work with macroscopic objects that move and exert force. It will give one (personal) view of what soft actuators and robots are, and how this class of soft devices fits into the more highly developed field of conventional "hard" robotics. It will also suggest how and why soft robotics is more than simply a minor technical "tweak" on hard robotics and propose a unique role for chemistry, and materials science, in this field. Soft robotics is, at its core, intellectually and technologically different from hard robotics, both because it has different objectives and uses and because it relies on the properties of materials to assume many of the roles played by sensors, actuators, and controllers in hard robotics.

show abstract

“…Right: A long, steerable arm (a Giacometti Arm with a 20‐m balloon body). Suzumori Endo Lab, Tokyo Institute of Technology …”

Section: New Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Robotics

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the field of soft robotics, Takeichi et al [23] implemented a 20-m-long robotic arm using a foldable thin pneumatic structure.…”

Section: Inflatables Pneumatic Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a potential solution to these issues, inflatable interfaces [29,5,25], which are growing in popularity in human-computer interaction (HCI) and soft robotics, demonstrate potential ability, such as (1) large volume change from compact scale to room scale by inflation and deflation [22,18,23,11,21]; (2) soft and safe physical/emotional interactions [26,7,24]; and (3) custom fabrication resulting in diverse form factors [13,14,18,28,9,12]. Our motivation is to leverage these properties of inflatable interfaces to improve current PMD designs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

poimo

Niiyama

Sato

Tsujimura

et al. 2020

Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the recent growth in popularity of personal mobility devices (e.g., e-scooters and e-skateboards), they still suffer from limited safety and narrow design form factors, due to their rigid structures. On the other hand, inflatable interfaces studied in human-computer interaction can achieve large volume change by simple inflation/deflation. Inflatable structure also offers soft and safe interaction owing to material compliance and diverse fabrication methods that lead to a wide range of forms and aesthetics. In this paper, we propose poimo, a new family of POrtable and Inflatable MObility devices, which consists of inflatable frames, inflatable wheels, and inflatable steering mechanisms made of a mass-manufacturable material called drop-stitch fabric. First, we defined the basic material properties of a drop-stitch inflatable structure that is sufficiently strong to carry a person while simultaneously allowing soft deformation and deflation for storage and portability. We then implemented an interactive design system that can scan the user's desired riding posture to generate a customized personal mobility device and can add the user's shape and color preferences. To demonstrate the custom-design capability and mobility, we designed several 3D models using our system and built physical samples for two basic templates: a motorcycle and a wheelchair. Finally, we conducted an online user study to examine the usability of the design system and share lessons learned for further improvements in the design and fabrication of poimo.

show abstract

“…The muscle was extremely light, flexible, and thinner compared to the conventional McKibben-type artificial muscle. These features can help develop musculoskeletal robots [8] and robot arms [9].…”

Section: A Soft Thin Musclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Muscle textile to implement soft suit to shift balancing posture of the body

Abe

Koizumi

Nabae

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study reports on the design and construction of a body support suit based on two novel concepts: muscle textile and shifting the balancing posture of the body. The muscle textile is an active textile composed of soft thin muscles that provides a large supporting force, and is flexible and lightweight. Shifting the balancing posture of the body involves changing its neutral posture while relaxing the muscles, making it easier to perform tasks in uncomfortable positions and simplifying the control system of the support suit. These two ideas are employed herein to design a flexible, light, comfortable, and simple support suit system. We then propose and test a soft suit intended to assist humans in tasks involving unnatural arm positions based on this design. The performed subjective experiments confirmed that the 2 kg soft suit attained a selfweight compensation of up to 120° forward, a reduction of 33% in the integrated electromyogram in the brachialis muscle, and a suppression of 5% of body sway.

show abstract

Development of Giacometti Arm With Balloon Body

Cited by 43 publications

References 7 publications

Soft Robotics

Soft Robotics

poimo

Muscle textile to implement soft suit to shift balancing posture of the body

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About