Mobile Robots: Motor Challenges and Materials Solutions

Madden, John D. W.

doi:10.1126/science.1146351

Cited by 156 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…Applications requiring very low total system mass such as actuators for humanoid robots 68 have been hampered by the added mass of the electronics for high voltage power delivery. This situation is rapidly improving and will be less relevant as progress is made towards electronics miniaturization and through integration of electronic switching control with the muscle through soft, low mass electronic components such as the dielectric elastomer switch, 69 which will be further elaborated in Sec.…”

Section: Multi-degree-of-freedom De Actuationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Anderson

Gisby²,

McKay³

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

544

306

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Dielectric elastomer (DE) actuators are popularly referred to as artificial muscles because their impressive actuation strain and speed, low density, compliant nature, and silent operation capture many of the desirable physical properties of muscle. Unlike conventional robots and machines, whose mechanisms and drive systems rapidly become very complex as the number of degrees of freedom increases, groups of DE artificial muscles have the potential to generate rich motions combining many translational and rotational degrees of freedom. These artificial muscle systems can mimic the agonist-antagonist approach found in nature, so that active expansion of one artificial muscle is taken up by passive contraction in the other. They can also vary their stiffness. In addition, they have the ability to produce electricity from movement. But departing from the high stiffness paradigm of electromagnetic motors and gearboxes leads to new control challenges, and for soft machines to be truly dexterous like their biological analogues, they need precise control. Humans control their limbs using sensory feedback from strain sensitive cells embedded in muscle. In DE actuators, deformation is inextricably linked to changes in electrical parameters that include capacitance and resistance, so the state of strain can be inferred by sensing these changes, enabling the closed loop control that is critical for a soft machine. But the increased information processing required for a soft machine can impose a substantial burden on a central controller. The natural solution is to distribute control within the mechanism itself. The octopus arm is an example of a soft actuator with a virtually infinite number of degrees of freedom (DOF). The arm utilizes neural ganglia to process sensory data at the local “arm” level and perform complex tasks. Recent advances in soft electronics such as the piezoresistive dielectric elastomer switch (DES) have the potential to be fully integrated with actuators and sensors. With the DE switch, we can produce logic gates, oscillators, and a memory element, the building blocks for a soft computer, thus bringing us closer to emulating smart living structures like the octopus arm. The goal of future research is to develop fully soft machines that exploit smart actuation networks to gain capabilities formerly reserved to nature, and open new vistas in mechanical engineering.

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Section: Multi-degree-of-freedom De Actuationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Anderson

Gisby²,

McKay³

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

544

306

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“…Robots used for performing delicate tasks (e.g., surgery [1,2] ) can be flexible in their movement, but are quite specialized. Airborne robots (e.g., unmanned and autonomous air vehicles) are highly evolved, but do not have to deal with the vagaries of rough terrain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elastomeric Origami: Programmable Paper‐Elastomer Composites as Pneumatic Actuators

Martínez

Fish

Chen

et al. 2012

Adv Funct Materials

536

382

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The development of soft pneumatic actuators based on composites consisting of elastomers with embedded sheet or fiber structures (e.g., paper or fabric) that are flexible but not extensible is described. On pneumatic inflation, these actuators move anisotropically, based on the motions accessible by their composite structures. They are inexpensive, simple to fabricate, light in weight, and easy to actuate. This class of structure is versatile: the same principles of design lead to actuators that respond to pressurization with a wide range of motions (bending, extension, contraction, twisting, and others). Paper, when used to introduce anisotropy into elastomers, can be readily folded into 3D structures following the principles of origami; these folded structures increase the stiffness and anisotropy of the elastomeric actuators, while being light in weight. These soft actuators can manipulate objects with moderate performance; for example, they can lift loads up to 120 times their weight. They can also be combined with other components, for example, electrical components, to increase their functionality.

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“…Our motor model gives us a way to determine the size, complexity, and cooling requirements of a linear PM motor for any given performance requirements, including requirements traditionally [1] thought outside the capabilities of such motors. As we have considered previously in this work, flapping-wing flight is a problem in robotics that is particularly constrained by actuator performance.…”

Section: Applications To Flapping Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While mainstream electric, pneumatic, and hydraulic actuators are capable of power densities, force densities, and efficiencies far in excess of those of natural actuators (i.e. muscles), they rarely can achieve all of these properties simultaneously or during transients [1], [2]. Furthermore, traditional actuators work best at size and force scales well in excess of those associated with the human body, rendering most industrial robots unsafe and too large for human interaction [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Optimization Strategies for Muscle-Like Direct Drive Linear Permanent Magnet Motors

Ruddy

Hunter

2010

Robotics: Science and Systems VI

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Abstract-We report a new approach to the design of directdrive linear permanent magnet motors for use in general-purpose robotic actuation, with particular attention to applications in bird-scale flapping-wing robots. We show a simple, quantitative analytical modeling framework for this class of actuators, and demonstrate inherent scaling properties that allow the production of motors with force densities and efficiencies comparable to those of biological muscles. We will show how this model leads to a set of practical design specifications for muscle-like motors, and examine the resulting trade-off between thermal management and motor fabrication complexity.

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Mobile Robots: Motor Challenges and Materials Solutions

Cited by 156 publications

References 27 publications

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines

Elastomeric Origami: Programmable Paper‐Elastomer Composites as Pneumatic Actuators

Design and Optimization Strategies for Muscle-Like Direct Drive Linear Permanent Magnet Motors

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