Topology Optimization of Skeleton-Reinforced Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Desired Motions

Chen, Shitong; Chen, Feifei; Cao, Zizheng; Wang, Yusheng; Miao, Y.; Gu, Guoying; Zhu, Xiangyang

doi:10.1109/tmech.2021.3071394

Cited by 29 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…[43,44] Because of their widespread use in soft robotics, pneumatic soft fingers have also been a popular optimization target. For convenience it is normally assumed that the inflating chamber is fixed, [45][46][47] but multi-physics formulations have also optimized both the pressure chamber shape and material layout in 2D [48,49] and 3D. [50,51] 3.…”

Section: Soft Gripper Topology Optimisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity‐Based Topology Optimization of Soft Robotic Grippers

Pinskier,

Wang,

Liow

et al. 2024

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Soft grippers are ideal for grasping delicate, deformable objects with complex geometries. Universal soft grippers have proven effective for grasping common objects, however complex objects or environments require bespoke gripper designs. Multi‐material printing presents a vast design‐space which, when coupled with an expressive computational design algorithm, can produce numerous, novel, high‐performance soft grippers. Finding high‐performing designs in challenging design spaces requires tools that combine rapid iteration, simulation accuracy, and fine‐grained optimization across a range of gripper designs to maximize performance, no current tools meet all these criteria. Herein, a diversity‐based soft gripper design framework combining generative design and topology optimization (TO) are presented. Compositional pattern‐producing networks (CPPNs) seed a diverse set of initial material distributions for the fine‐grained TO. Focusing on vacuum‐driven multi‐material soft grippers, several grasping modes (e.g. pinching, scooping) emerging without explicit prompting are demonstrated. Extensive automated experimentation with printed multi‐material grippers confirms optimized candidates exceed the grasp strength of comparable commercial designs. Grip strength, durability, and robustness is evaluated across 15,170 grasps. The combination of fine‐grained generative design, diversity‐based design processes, high‐fidelity simulation, and automated experimental evaluation represents a new paradigm for bespoke soft gripper design which is generalizable across numerous design domains, tasks, and environments.

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Section: Soft Gripper Topology Optimisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity‐Based Topology Optimization of Soft Robotic Grippers

Pinskier,

Wang,

Liow

et al. 2024

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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“…The soft robots use soft materials (such as silicon rubbers and fabrics) and continuum structures that are inherently underactuated, compliant, and lightweight. Many bioinspired soft robotic systems such as finger-like actuators, − locomotive robots, ,− and robotic exoskeletons − have been developed. The design of dexterous soft anthropomorphic hands, by contrast, is still at a nascent stage.…”

Section: Neuroprosthetic Hand Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Robotics Enables Neuroprosthetic Hand Design

Zhang

Chen

et al. 2023

ACS Nano

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Development and implementation of neuroprosthetic hands is a multidisciplinary field at the interface between humans and artificial robotic systems, which aims at replacing the sensorimotor function of the upper-limb amputees as their own. Although prosthetic hand devices with myoelectric control can be dated back to more than 70 years ago, their applications with anthropomorphic robotic mechanisms and sensory feedback functions are still at a relatively preliminary and laboratory stage. Nevertheless, a recent series of proof-of-concept studies suggest that soft robotics technology may be promising and useful in alleviating the design complexity of the dexterous mechanism and integration difficulty of multifunctional artificial skins, in particular, in the context of personalized applications. Here, we review the evolution of neuroprosthetic hands with the emerging and cutting-edge soft robotics, covering the soft and anthropomorphic prosthetic hand design and relating bidirectional neural interactions with myoelectric control and sensory feedback. We further discuss future opportunities on revolutionized mechanisms, high-performance soft sensors, and compliant neural-interaction interfaces for the next generation of neuroprosthetic hands.

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“…This PDF file includes: Supplementary Methods Figs. S1 to S18 tables S1 to S12 References (49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63) Other Supplementary Material for this manuscript includes the following: Movies S1 to S12 analysis simulation of the spine flexion. We thank Y.…”

Section: Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lateral flexion of a compliant spine improves motor performance in a bioinspired mouse robot

Bing,

Rohregger,

Walter

et al. 2023

Sci. Robot.

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A flexible spine is critical to the motion capability of most animals and plays a pivotal role in their agility. Although state-of-the-art legged robots have already achieved very dynamic and agile movement solely relying on their legs, they still exhibit the type of stiff movement that compromises movement efficiency. The integration of a flexible spine thus appears to be a promising approach to improve their agility, especially for small and underactuated quadruped robots that are underpowered because of size limitations. Here, we show that the lateral flexion of a compliant spine can promote both walking speed and maneuver agility for a neurorobotic mouse (NeRmo). We present NeRmo as a biomimetic robotic mouse that mimics the morphology of biological mice and their muscle-tendon actuation system. First, by leveraging the lateral flexion of the compliant spine, NeRmo can greatly increase its static stability in an initially unstable configuration by adjusting its posture. Second, the lateral flexion of the spine can also effectively extend the stride length of a gait and therefore improve the walking speeds of NeRmo. Finally, NeRmo shows agile maneuvers that require both a small turning radius and fast walking speed with the help of the spine. These results advance our understanding of spine-based quadruped locomotion skills and highlight promising design concepts to develop more agile legged robots.

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Topology Optimization of Skeleton-Reinforced Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Desired Motions

Cited by 29 publications

References 24 publications

Diversity‐Based Topology Optimization of Soft Robotic Grippers

Diversity‐Based Topology Optimization of Soft Robotic Grippers

Soft Robotics Enables Neuroprosthetic Hand Design

Lateral flexion of a compliant spine improves motor performance in a bioinspired mouse robot

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