Dielectric elastomer actuators for octopus inspired suction cups

Follador, Maurizio; Tramacere, Francesca; Mazzolai, Barbara

doi:10.1088/1748-3182/9/4/046002

Cited by 78 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…There are other adhesion technologies paving the way for soft grippers. Examples are electrically actuated suction cups, and octopus‐inspired nanosucker arrays film . Once integrated, they could bring novel functionalities and applications to soft grippers.…”

Section: Gripping By Controlled Adhesionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Robotic Grippers

et al. 2018

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Advances in soft robotics, materials science, and stretchable electronics have enabled rapid progress in soft grippers. Here, a critical overview of soft robotic grippers is presented, covering different material sets, physical principles, and device architectures. Soft gripping can be categorized into three technologies, enabling grasping by: a) actuation, b) controlled stiffness, and c) controlled adhesion. A comprehensive review of each type is presented. Compared to rigid grippers, end-effectors fabricated from flexible and soft components can often grasp or manipulate a larger variety of objects. Such grippers are an example of morphological computation, where control complexity is greatly reduced by material softness and mechanical compliance. Advanced materials and soft components, in particular silicone elastomers, shape memory materials, and active polymers and gels, are increasingly investigated for the design of lighter, simpler, and more universal grippers, using the inherent functionality of the materials. Embedding stretchable distributed sensors in or on soft grippers greatly enhances the ways in which the grippers interact with objects. Challenges for soft grippers include miniaturization, robustness, speed, integration of sensing, and control. Improved materials, processing methods, and sensing play an important role in future research.

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Section: Gripping By Controlled Adhesionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Robotic Grippers

et al. 2018

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“…With an external voltage, the DE membrane bulges as a result of expanding area, with applications as pumps, loud-speakers, and electric generators. Inspired by octopus suckers, Follador et al (2014) recently designed a novel suction cup using DEs, and this actuator was able to produce up to 6 kPa of pressure in water with a response time of less than 300 ms. DE actuators also have been widely used in microfluidic flow control and large-scale integrated microfluidic chips. These chips consist of arrays of independently controlled pneumatic actuators that can produce pumping or valving action individually (Duncan et al, 2013;Maffli et al, 2013).…”

Section: Propertymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanics of dielectric elastomers: materials, structures, and devices

Qian

2016

JZUS-A

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Dielectric elastomers (DEs) respond to applied electric voltage with a surprisingly large deformation, showing a promising capability to generate actuation in mimicking natural muscles. A theoretical foundation of the mechanics of DEs is of crucial importance in designing DE-based structures and devices. In this review, we survey some recent theoretical and numerical efforts in exploring several aspects of electroactive materials, with emphases on the governing equations of electromechanical coupling, constitutive laws, viscoelastic behaviors, electromechanical instability as well as actuation applications. An overview of analytical models is provided based on the representative approach of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, with computational analyses being required in more generalized situations such as irregular shape, complex configuration, and time-dependent deformation. Theoretical efforts have been devoted to enhancing the working limits of DE actuators by avoiding electromechanical instability as well as electric breakdown, and pre-strains are shown to effectively avoid the two failure modes. These studies lay a solid foundation to facilitate the use of DE materials, structures, and devices in a wide range of applications such as biomedical devices, adaptive systems, robotics, energy harvesting, etc.

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“…A number of researchers have proposed passive artificial suckers [25], and actuated suckers using Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) [26], and Dielectric Elastomers Actuators (DEA) [27]. The existing literature on sensorisation of artificial suckers is predominantly relevant to the development of smart skins for robotic arms to inform the robot about its interaction with the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anchoring like octopus: biologically inspired soft artificial sucker

Sareh

Althoefer

et al. 2017

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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This paper presents a robotic anchoring module, a sensorised mechanism for attachment to the environment that can be integrated into robots to enable or enhance various functions such as robot mobility, remaining on location or its ability to manipulate objects. The body of the anchoring module consists of two portions with a mechanical stiffness transition from hard to soft. The hard portion is capable of containing vacuum pressure used for actuation whilst the soft portion is highly conformable to create a seal to contact surfaces. The module is integrated with a single sensory unit which exploits a fibre optic sensing principle to seamlessly measure proximity and tactile information for use in robot motion planning as well as measuring the state of firmness of its anchor. In an experiment, a variable set of physical loads representing the weights of potential robot bodies were attached to the module and its ability to maintain the anchor was quantified under constant and variable vacuum pressure signals. The experiment shows the effectiveness of the module in quantifying the state of firmness of the anchor and discriminating between different amounts of physical loads attached to it. The proposed anchoring module can enable many industrial and medical applications where attachment to environment is of crucial importance for robot control.

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Dielectric elastomer actuators for octopus inspired suction cups

Cited by 78 publications

References 31 publications

Soft Robotic Grippers

Soft Robotic Grippers

Mechanics of dielectric elastomers: materials, structures, and devices

Anchoring like octopus: biologically inspired soft artificial sucker

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