Soft Pneumatic Sensing Chambers for Generic and Interactive Human–Machine Interfaces

Abstract

Soft robots are ideal to interact safely alongside humans when compared to rigid‐bodied robots. These robots require robust soft sensors that can sustain large deformations. Novel soft pneumatic sensing chambers (SPSCs) that can be directly 3D printed using a low‐cost 3D printer and an off‐the‐shelf thermoplastic poly(urethane) (TPU) are presented. The SPSCs are responsive to four main mechanical input modalities of compression, bending, torsion, and rectilinear displacement, and all of these cause a pressure change in the SPSCs. The SPSCs have several advantages including fast response, linearity, negligible hysteresis, repeatability and reliability, stability over time, long lifetime, and very low power consumption. The SPSCs are optimized using finite element modeling (FEM) simulations to obtain a linear relationship between the input mechanical modalities and the output pressure. With the hyperelastic material model developed for the TPU, the FEM simulations accurately predict the experimental behavior. These SPSCs are generic and can be tailored to diverse soft and interactive human–machine interfaces including soft wearable gloves for virtual reality applications and soft adaptive grippers control, soft push buttons for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education platforms, haptic feedback devices for rehabilitation, soft game controllers and soft throttle controllers for gaming, and soft bending sensors for soft prosthetic hands.

Fully 3D Printed Monolithic Soft Gripper with High Conformal Grasping Capability

“…The computer-aided-design (CAD) models were designed and modeled in Autodesk Fusion 360 (Autodesk Inc.). The CAD models were sliced using a commercially available slicer (Simplify3D LLC, OH) where the printing parameters were set and adjusted based on recent studies on 3D printing soft pneumatic actuators and sensors using FDM 3D printing [31,35]. The soft pneumatic actuators and the full soft gripper were printed along their width (W) (Fig.…”

“…Finite element modeling simulations were performed on a single actuator to optimize its topology and to predict its performance in terms of deformation and blocked force. The TPU was modeled as a hyperelastic material based on its experimental stress-strain data where a 5-parameter Mooney-Rivlin material model was implemented in ANSYS [31,35]. The FEM simulations were performed in ANSYS Workbench.…”

3D Printed Soft Pneumatic Bending Sensing Chambers for Bilateral and Remote Control of Soft Robotic Systems

“…A commercial slicer (Simplify3D Inc.) was used to slice the CAD models of the bending chambers. The printing parameters were adjusted and optimized in the slicer based on recent studies [32][33][34][35][36][37][38] to 3D print airtight soft pneumatic bending sensing chambers. The optimized printing parameters are listed in Table I.…”

Fusion of Wearable and Contactless Sensors for Intelligent Gesture Recognition

“…To accurately describe an object with multiple sensors, the fusion process aims to combine the strengths of each sensor and compensate for their relative weaknesses. In this respect, various data fusion strategies, mostly related to machine‐learning algorithms, have been proposed for different sensing purposes such as gesture, fault detection, intelligent robot, and health monitoring …”

“…The hand gesture is a natural way to interact between people, especially among those who have difficulty in speaking or hearing. Hand gestures are also important in human–computer interaction, particularly in situations where it is inconvenient to use speech or typical input devices …”