Soft pneumatic actuators for legged locomotion

Florez, Juan Manuel; Shih, Benjamin; Bai, Ya; Paik, Jamie

doi:10.1109/robio.2014.7090302

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…But due to the bandwidth of the system and the wearer interaction this is not always achieved, even with the most sophisticated control strategy. Even though SPAs cannot match the bandwidth electrical motors can achieve [15], [27], [19], they have an embodied advantage of having a buffer zone, convenient for certain applications such as the lightweight soft exosuit [24], navigation robots [35], [18], [36] or grippers [16], [27], [37] because they compliantly adapt to the environment without having to specifically address trajectories. For this study we exploit this aspect of SPAs to address the challenging problem of assisting fragile animal limbs by controlling the pressure inside the SPA chambers and computing inverse dynamics to determine the input signal to be sent to each pressure regulator.…”

Section: ) Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent developments in soft actuators [13], [14], [15] that are fabricated with polymeric elastomers exhibiting intrinsic compliance and elasticity have demonstrated the use of the material's softness to adapt efficiently to environmental constraints during manipulation [16], [17] or in bio-inspired robotics [18], [19]. The diversity of applications and forms that soft actuators can afford have nourished research where particular attention is on safety and adaptability for use in contact with fragile environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rehabilitative Soft Exoskeleton for Rodents

Florez

Shah

Moraud

et al. 2017

IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng.

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Abstract-Robotic exoskeletons provide programmable, consistent and controllable active therapeutic assistance to patients with neurological disorders. Here we introduce a prototype and preliminary experimental evaluation of a rehabilitative gait exoskeleton that enables compliant yet effective manipulation of the fragile limbs of rats. To assist the displacements of the lower limbs without impeding natural gait movements, we designed and fabricated soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs). The exoskeleton integrates two customizable SPAs that are attached to a limb. This configuration enables a 1 N force load, a range of motion exceeding 80 mm in the major axis, and speed of actuation reaching 2 gait cycles/s. Preliminary experiments in rats with spinal cord injury validated the basic features of the exoskeleton. We propose strategies to improve the performance of the robot and discuss the potential of SPAs for the design of other wearable interfaces.

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Section: ) Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rehabilitative Soft Exoskeleton for Rodents

Florez

Shah

Moraud

et al. 2017

IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng.

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“…Various actuation methods are employed for realizing the different locomotion mechanisms described above. These include electric motors [2,3], electromagnetic actuators [4], soft pneumatic actuators [5] and piezoelectric actuation [6]. All of these methods require a dedicated energy source (e.g., a battery) and additional components (e.g., electrical wires, pneumatic tubes).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-propagating miniature device based on shape memory alloy

2018

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The development of novel locomotion mechanisms is beneficial for advancing the field of selfpropagating devices, which are implemented in various civilian and military applications. In this work, we present a purely mechanic, mm-sized autonomous device capable of linear propagation on a smooth, relatively flat surface. The locomotion mechanism is driven by a shape memory alloy (SMA) wire that is connected to a metallic, ring-shaped, bias spring. Periodic changes in the temperature in the vicinity of the device activate the SMA wire, and result in alternating contraction-elongation deformations of the SMA-bias spring assembly. These deformations are transferred to a linear back and forth motion of small legs that are attached at the bottom of the ring. To generate locomotion, the general conditions for obtaining asymmetric friction between needle shaped legs and a smooth surface were formulated and validated experimentally. The structure and performance of the device are modeled analytically leading to basic design rules that are validated experimentally by real-time optical tracking of the device's displacements and propagation. In addition, the potential of miniaturization of the presented locomotion concept down to the micro-meter scale is demonstrated.

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“…Ilievski et al have designed a soft actuation method using embedded pneumatic networks (PneuNets) in the soft structure of a starfish robot which generates complex motions when the channel network is pressurized [22]. Using the PneuNets, a number of bioinspired soft robots have been reported including fish [23], legged robot [24,25] and hand rehabilitation [26]. Lin et al studied a caterpillar soft robot actuated by shape memory alloys (working similar to tendon driven robotic systems) [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanical stiffness augmentation of a 3D printed soft prosthetic finger

Mutlu

Yildiz

Alici

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM)

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Soft robotics, as a multi-disciplinary research area, has recently gained a significant momentum due to offering unconventional characteristics relative to rigid robots such as a resilient, highly dexterous, compliant and safer interaction with humans and their physical environments. However, soft robots suffer from not being able to carry their own weight which mainly depends on the modulus of elasticity of the material used to fabricate them. In this paper, we report on a practical and easy-to-implement stiffness augmentation method to enhance stiffness of soft robotic components. We fabricated a soft robotic finger which is fully compliant with flexure hinges using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technique and a stiffness augmenting unit made of thin poly(vinyl chloride)(PVC) sheets. The stiffness of the entire robotic finger was increased mechanically by linearly driving the stiffness augmenting unit. The experimental data presented show that stiffness of the finger was increased by 40 %. Depending on the material properties and thickness used for fabricating the stiffness augmenting unit, a higher rate of stiffness increase can be easily obtained. Disciplines Engineering | Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication DetailsMutlu, R., Yildiz, S. Kumbay., Alici, G. This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/aiimpapers/2320  Abstract-Soft robotics, as a multi-disciplinary research area, has recently gained a significant momentum due to offering unconventional characteristics relative to rigid robots such as a resilient, highly dexterous, compliant and safer interaction with humans and their physical environments. However, soft robots suffer from not being able to carry their own weight which mainly depends on the modulus of elasticity of the material used to fabricate them. In this paper, we report on a practical and easy-to-implement stiffness augmentation method to enhance stiffness of soft robotic components. We fabricated a soft robotic finger which is fully compliant with flexure hinges using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technique and a stiffness augmenting unit made of thin poly(vinyl chloride)(PVC) sheets. The stiffness of the entire robotic finger was increased mechanically by linearly driving the stiffness augmenting unit. The experimental data presented show that stiffness of the finger was increased by 40 %. Depending on the material properties and thickness used for fabricating the stiffness augmenting unit, a higher rate of stiffness increase can be easily obtained.

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Soft pneumatic actuators for legged locomotion

Cited by 26 publications

References 22 publications

Rehabilitative Soft Exoskeleton for Rodents

Rehabilitative Soft Exoskeleton for Rodents

Self-propagating miniature device based on shape memory alloy

Mechanical stiffness augmentation of a 3D printed soft prosthetic finger

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