Modeling, Design, and Development of Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Finite Element Method

Moseley, Philip; Florez, Juan Manuel; Sonar, Harshal Arun; Agarwal, Gunjan; Curtin, W.A.; Paik, Jamie

doi:10.1002/adem.201500503

Cited by 200 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The applications can range from medical to industrial robotics where inherent compliance and adjustable stiffness is needed. For example, characteristics such as back-drivability and the off-axes deformation capability make FEA safe for human-robot interaction [5]. In terms of controllability (Section 2.7), the liquid-based devices can exhibit more linear behavior than their counterparts using the pneumatic principles.…”

Section: Systematical Review Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to obtain a rough comparison formula, these different combinations of comparison criteria are listed in Table 6 in the order of importance. Using this type of importance ranking in criteria, each actuator type can be evaluated by giving it a suitability degree using a [1][2][3][4][5] scale. A rough suitability grading is presented in Table 7.…”

Section: Case Studies For Application Matchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Overview of Novel Actuators for Soft Robotics

2018

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In this systematic survey, an overview of non-conventional actuators particularly used in soft-robotics is presented. The review is performed by using well-defined performance criteria with a direction to identify the exemplary and potential applications. In addition to this, initial guidelines to compare the performance and applicability of these novel actuators are provided. The meta-analysis is restricted to five main types of actuators: shape memory alloys (SMAs), fluidic elastomer actuators (FEAs), shape morphing polymers (SMPs), dielectric electro-activated polymers (DEAPs), and magnetic/electro-magnetic actuators (E/MAs). In exploring and comparing the capabilities of these actuators, the focus was on eight different aspects: compliance, topology-geometry, scalability-complexity, energy efficiency, operation range, modality, controllability, and technological readiness level (TRL). The overview presented here provides a state-of-the-art summary of the advancements and can help researchers to select the most convenient soft actuators using the comprehensive comparison of the suggested quantitative and qualitative criteria.

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Section: Systematical Review Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Case Studies For Application Matchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Novel Actuators for Soft Robotics

2018

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“…11,40 This is undesirable if the purpose of the bending module is to bend only a finite angle and maintain adequate strength. In this scenario, the folded paper shell serves as a retainer that provides a restrictive force to the bending actuator.…”

Section: Performance Requirements For Bending Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Analysis of a Soft Pneumatic Actuator with Origami Shell Reinforcement

2016

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Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) are versatile robotic components enabling diverse and complex soft robot hardware design. However, due to inherent material characteristics exhibited by their primary constitutive material, silicone rubber, they often lack robustness and repeatability in performance. In this article, we present a novel SPA-based bending module design with shell reinforcement. The bidirectional soft actuator presented here is enveloped in a Yoshimura patterned origami shell, which acts as an additional protection layer covering the SPA while providing specific bending resilience throughout the actuator's range of motion. Mechanical tests are performed to characterize several shell folding patterns and their effect on the actuator performance. Details on design decisions and experimental results using the SPA with origami shell modules and performance analysis are presented; the performance of the bending module is significantly enhanced when reinforcement is provided by the shell. With the aid of the shell, the bending module is capable of sustaining higher inflation pressures, delivering larger blocked torques, and generating the targeted motion trajectory.

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“…Although their inherent compliance, easy fabrication, and ability to achieve complex output motions from simple inputs have made soft robots very popular (10,11), there is growing recognition that the development of methods for efficiently designing actuators for particular functions is essential to the advancement of the field. To this end, some research groups have begun focusing their efforts on modeling and characterizing soft actuators (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). In particular, significant progress has been made on solving the forward kinematics problem (16)(17)(18)(19) and even on using dynamic modeling to perform motion planning (14).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the practical problem of designing a soft actuator to achieve a particular motion remains an issue. Finite element (FE) analysis has previously been used as a design tool to find the optimal geometric parameters for a soft pneumatic actuator, given some design criteria (15). Although this procedure yields some nice results, only basic motions (linear or bending) were studied, because the method is computationally intensive.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Automatic design of fiber-reinforced soft actuators for trajectory matching

Connolly

Walsh

Bertoldi

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

384

249

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Soft actuators are the components responsible for producing motion in soft robots. Although soft actuators have allowed for a variety of innovative applications, there is a need for design tools that can help to efficiently and systematically design actuators for particular functions. Mathematical modeling of soft actuators is an area that is still in its infancy but has the potential to provide quantitative insights into the response of the actuators. These insights can be used to guide actuator design, thus accelerating the design process. Here, we study fluid-powered fiberreinforced actuators, because these have previously been shown to be capable of producing a wide range of motions. We present a design strategy that takes a kinematic trajectory as its input and uses analytical modeling based on nonlinear elasticity and optimization to identify the optimal design parameters for an actuator that will follow this trajectory upon pressurization. We experimentally verify our modeling approach, and finally we demonstrate how the strategy works, by designing actuators that replicate the motion of the index finger and thumb.soft robotics | fiber-reinforced actuators | customized actuators I n the field of robotics, it is essential to understand how to design a robot such that it can perform a particular motion for a target application. For example, this robot could be a robot arm that moves along a certain path or a wearable robot that assists with motion of a limb. For conventional hard robots, methods have been developed to describe the forward kinematics (i.e., for given actuator inputs, what will the configuration of the robot be) and inverse kinematics (i.e., for a desired configuration of the robot, what should the actuator inputs be) (1-4).Recently, there has been significant progress in the field of soft robotics, with the development of many soft grippers (5, 6), locomotion robots (7,8), and assistive devices (9). Although their inherent compliance, easy fabrication, and ability to achieve complex output motions from simple inputs have made soft robots very popular (10, 11), there is growing recognition that the development of methods for efficiently designing actuators for particular functions is essential to the advancement of the field. To this end, some research groups have begun focusing their efforts on modeling and characterizing soft actuators (12-20). In particular, significant progress has been made on solving the forward kinematics problem (16-19) and even on using dynamic modeling to perform motion planning (14). However, the practical problem of designing a soft actuator to achieve a particular motion remains an issue. Finite element (FE) analysis has previously been used as a design tool to find the optimal geometric parameters for a soft pneumatic actuator, given some design criteria (15). Although this procedure yields some nice results, only basic motions (linear or bending) were studied, because the method is computationally intensive. An alternative approach is to use analytical modeling...

show abstract

Modeling, Design, and Development of Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Finite Element Method

Cited by 200 publications

References 55 publications

An Overview of Novel Actuators for Soft Robotics

An Overview of Novel Actuators for Soft Robotics

Design and Analysis of a Soft Pneumatic Actuator with Origami Shell Reinforcement

Automatic design of fiber-reinforced soft actuators for trajectory matching

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