Multifilament pneumatic artificial muscles to mimic the human neck

Abstract

Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) are actuators that resemble human muscles, and offer an attractive performance in various aspects including robustness, simplicity, high specific power and high force for a given volume. These characteristics render them good candidates for use in humanoid robots. The use of traditional PAMs to closely mimic human structures, however, is difficult due to their relatively large size and relatively fixed designs. The recent development of multifilament PAMs enables the realization of humanoid robots that more closely mimic the human anatomy. In this paper, the application of multifilament PAMs to mimic the human neck is presented. First, the main structures of the human neck anatomy in terms of bones, ligaments and muscles are identified and detailed. The design to mimic each of these structures is subsequently described, together with the most relevant parts of the manufacturing process. The integrated neck is then presented, and the method to actuate it is outlined. The results of motion of the artificial neck when actuating different groups of muscles that mimic those in the human anatomy are reported, confirming a motion that is equivalent to that of the human neck. The results also indicate a range of motion of the robot neck somewhat lower than that of its human counterpart, and the reasons for this are discussed. Finally, future directions for improved motion range, stability, durability and efficiency are outlined.

Design and Computational Modeling of Fabric Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Wearable Assistive Devices

“…Soft wearable assistive/rehabilitative robots are generally categorized based on the joints they assist as well as the type of actuators actuators utilized to design them 6 . Upper-body soft wearable robots have been developed to actively support fingers [8][9][10][11][12][13] , wrists 14 , elbows 15,16 , shoulders [17][18][19] , necks 20 , forearms 21,22 , and spines 23,24 . Lower-body soft wearable robots have provided assistance to the hips 25 , knees 26,27 , and ankles [28][29][30][31] .…”

Smart material composites for discrete stiffness materials

“…Many biomimetic robots have utilized pneumatic artificial muscles optimized for specific tasks and applications [22][23][24][25]. These actuators closely match the architecture of human muscles but are generally connected to rigid links which lack the compliance necessary for some applications [26]. Antagonistic arrangements of pneumatic actuators has enabled some stiffness variability in robotic gripping devices [27].…”

3D-printed hierarchical arrangements of actuators mimicking biological muscular architectures

“…In pneumatic systems, indeed, the regulation is carried on by modulating the input analogically using pressure regulators, which complicate the control and are much more expensive than simple on/off valves. This control method tends to be effective when systems have few degrees of freedom but becomes more and more complex and expensive as their number grows [33][34][35][36].…”