TY - GEN

T1 - Actuation and stiffening in fluid-driven soft robots using low-melting-point material

AU - Peters, Jan

AU - Nolan, Erin

AU - Wiese, Mats

AU - Miodownik, Mark

AU - Spurgeon, Sarah

AU - Arezzo, Alberto

AU - Raatz, Annika

AU - Wurdemann, Helge A.

N1 - Funding information: This work is supported by by the Springboard Award of the Academy of Medical Sciences (grant number: SBF003-1109) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant numbers: EP/N509577/1, EP/R037795/1, and EP/S014039/1).

PY - 2019/11

Y1 - 2019/11

N2 - Soft material robots offer a number of advantages over traditional rigid robots in applications including human-robot interaction, rehabilitation and surgery. These robots can navigate around obstacles, elongate, squeeze through narrow openings or be squeezed - and they are considered to be inherently safe. The ability to stiffen compliant soft actuators has been achieved by embedding various mechanisms that are generally decoupled from the actuation principle. Miniaturisation becomes challenging due to space limitations which can in turn result in diminution of stiffening effects. Here, we propose to hydraulically actuate soft manipulators with low-melting-point material and, at the same time, be able to switch between a soft and stiff state. Instead of allocating an additional stiffening chamber within the soft robot, one chamber only is used for actuation and stiffening. Low Melting Point Alloy is integrated into the actuation chamber of a single-compartment soft robotic manipulator and the interfaced robotic syringe pump. Temperature change is enabled through embedded nichrome wires. Our experimental results show higher stiffness factors, from 9-12 opposing the motion of curvature, than those previously found for jamming mechanisms incorporated in separate additional chambers, in the range of 2-8 for the same motion.

AB - Soft material robots offer a number of advantages over traditional rigid robots in applications including human-robot interaction, rehabilitation and surgery. These robots can navigate around obstacles, elongate, squeeze through narrow openings or be squeezed - and they are considered to be inherently safe. The ability to stiffen compliant soft actuators has been achieved by embedding various mechanisms that are generally decoupled from the actuation principle. Miniaturisation becomes challenging due to space limitations which can in turn result in diminution of stiffening effects. Here, we propose to hydraulically actuate soft manipulators with low-melting-point material and, at the same time, be able to switch between a soft and stiff state. Instead of allocating an additional stiffening chamber within the soft robot, one chamber only is used for actuation and stiffening. Low Melting Point Alloy is integrated into the actuation chamber of a single-compartment soft robotic manipulator and the interfaced robotic syringe pump. Temperature change is enabled through embedded nichrome wires. Our experimental results show higher stiffness factors, from 9-12 opposing the motion of curvature, than those previously found for jamming mechanisms incorporated in separate additional chambers, in the range of 2-8 for the same motion.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079789569&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.15488/14444

DO - 10.15488/14444

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85079789569

SN - 978-1-7281-4005-6

T3 - IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

SP - 4692

EP - 4698

BT - 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2019

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

T2 - 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2019

Y2 - 3 November 2019 through 8 November 2019

ER -