HEDRA: A Bio-Inspired Modular Tensegrity Robot With Polyhedral Parallel Modules

Ramadoss, Vishal; Sagar, Keerthi; Ikbal, Mohamed Sadiq; Calles, Jesus Hiram Lugo; Siddaraboina, Raghuveer; Zoppi, Matteo

doi:10.1109/robosoft54090.2022.9762130

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The tensegrity used in this study is a soft structure with various deformation possibilities. It is difficult to induce torsional deformation without other deformation elements, as is the case with large bending deformation in the torsion of [24]. This section describes a method to induce torsional deformation in tensegrity and optimizes the arrangement of artificial muscles to minimize contraction and bending deformations to achieve torsional deformation.…”

Section: Design Of Torsional Tensegritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other tensegrity structures, there are only a few studies on torsion compared to stretching and bending, and the amount of deformation is less than 20 deg per stage [21], [22], [23]. Furthermore, it is unsuitable for the purposes of this study because it uses a tensegrity structure with low symmetry, which makes it difficult to combine other deformation modes, and does not have axial flexibility [21], [22] or passive torsional motion in response to external forces [23], [24]. Here, internal force means that the actuator is complete within a single tensegrity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large Torsion Thin Artificial Muscles Tensegrity Structure for Twist Manipulation

Kobayashi

Nabae

Suzumori

2023

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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Tensegrity structures have been actively studied in recent years because they are lightweight, compliant, and flexible, which are properties not typically found in conventional robots. This structure can be modularized to create soft robots that operate in unknown environments such as cave or space with more complex and effective behavior. The basic deformation elements in modularization are stretching, bending, and torsion. Among them, torsional motion is important for proper manipulation and rotational operation. However, active, and large torsion in soft tensegrity structures has not been developed. Therefore, this study describes torsional deformation and a novel arrangement method for thin artificial muscles. The proposed method leads to the optimal placement of artificial muscles for torsion, by which we generated a large torsion of ±50 deg. This is more than 2.5 times larger than that of a previous tensegrity without compromising the favorable properties of the structure. Furthermore, by modularizing the tensegrity structure, a tensegrity arm capable of removing a plastic bottle cap was developed. The applicability of torsional deformation and the usefulness of modularization of the structure are demonstrated.

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Section: Design Of Torsional Tensegritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large Torsion Thin Artificial Muscles Tensegrity Structure for Twist Manipulation

Kobayashi

Nabae

Suzumori

2023

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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“…[20,21] Moreover, manipulators and grippers have also been demonstrated. [22,23] Additionally, these tensegrity-based robots often employ spherical, spine-like, or modular architectures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and Characterization of Tensegrity Structures Integrating Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

2023

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Tensegrity structures, architectures that consist of elastic cables and rigid rods, have attracted attention as a building block of robots because of their compliance, lightweight properties, and mechanical robustness. This article describes a method to create electroactive tensegrity structures that employs a dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) as the actuation principle. Two different types of DEA‐tensegrities are considered herein: a membrane type and a cable type. In these devices, DEAs are made of an acrylic elastomer (3 m, VHB 4905) and a stretchable conductive film (Adhesives Research, ARcare 90336) used as dielectric and electrode layers, respectively. An analytical model of DEA‐tensegrities is built that guides the fabrication of experimental devices. The fabricated DEA‐tensegrities are characterized by the actuation strain in the height direction. As a result, voltage‐controlled actuation strains of 7.5% and 2.0% are observed at 10 kV for membrane type and cable type DEA‐tensegrity, respectively, while the model prediction captures the actuation characteristics.

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“…It is worth noting that both kinematics and static equilibrium constraints have to be well satisfied. This is known as the form-finding problem, [17] for which force density method (FDM) [14,17,18] was commonly used to simplify the robot as a cable network comprising nodes, bars, and cables, but which would be oversimplified and limited to specific mass interstructures. Finite element modeling was also used to linearize tensegrity dynamics model, [19] but which would be too computationally intensive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Tensegrity Joint for Low‐Inertia, Compact, and Compliant Soft Manipulators

Hao

Wang

Song

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Compact, low‐inertia, and soft compliant robotic joint mechanisms are in great demand for ensuring safe interactions in human–robot collaborative tasks. Tensegrity, of which the structural integrity is constrained by tension, does not involve static/sliding friction among the rigid components. However, this mechanical stability is very susceptible to actuation errors. It requires complex kinematics modeling and sophisticated control model with sensing feedback. Herein, a low‐inertia tensegrity joint that is covered/protected by a fiber Bragg grating (FBG)‐embedded silicone sheath is proposed, with the aim to reinforce the joint motion stability and enable self‐contained sensing feedback. A learning‐based closed‐loop controller is also designed and trained with the proper joint configurations selected by a two‐step sampling method. Both the kinematics and static equilibriums of such configurations can be well satisfied. The experiments demonstrate that the joint can follow paths accurately in 2D by compensating manipulation error shortly under the closed‐loop control. The joint stiffness can also be varied against the external/impulsive disturbances. It can be foreseen that this primitive robot joint component with 2 degrees of freedom (DoFs) can provide safe, compliant interaction with human, for which a simple test of maneuvering a portable ultrasound probe (≈210 g) for abdominal imaging is demonstrated.

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HEDRA: A Bio-Inspired Modular Tensegrity Robot With Polyhedral Parallel Modules

Cited by 11 publications

References 14 publications

Large Torsion Thin Artificial Muscles Tensegrity Structure for Twist Manipulation

Large Torsion Thin Artificial Muscles Tensegrity Structure for Twist Manipulation

Modeling and Characterization of Tensegrity Structures Integrating Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

A Tensegrity Joint for Low‐Inertia, Compact, and Compliant Soft Manipulators

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