TY - JOUR

T1 - Design and characterisation of a multi-DOF soft pneumatic module

AU - Santacruz-Mondragon, Israel

AU - Sandoval-Castro, X. Yamile

AU - Ibrahim, Serhat

AU - Wiese, Mats

AU - Raatz, Annika

AU - Ruiz-Torres, Maximiano F.

AU - Castillo-Castaneda, Eduardo

PY - 2023/9

Y1 - 2023/9

N2 - Bending and elongation have been some of the most studied motions in soft actuators due to the variety of their applications. For that matter, multi-DOF actuators have been developed with the purpose to generate different movements in a single actuator, mainly bending. However, these actuators are still limited in mobility range, and some of them do not perform continuous curvatures. This paper presents the design, characterisation and implementations of a multi-DOF soft pneumatic module. The internal structure of the proposed module is composed of four channels, which generate bending in several directions. The finite element method analysis demonstrates that the actuator performs continuous curvatures for different pressure values. We present a repeatable and easy manufacturing process using the casting technique, considering the material Ecoflex 00-50; as well as the kinematic model of the actuator, taking into consideration two bending Degrees of Freedom (DOFs). Furthermore, we performed bending characterisation for all possible combinations of the four channels via computer vision, demonstrating a wide mobility range and performing continuous curvatures. Additionally, we evaluated the kinematic model with characterisation data, obtaining the angular and cartesian relationship between the pressure and continuous curvatures. On the other hand, the authors propose the design of a modular soft manipulator based on two multi-DOF modules. The kinematic model is reported. In addition, we implement a motion sequence in the manipulator to pick and place tasks.

AB - Bending and elongation have been some of the most studied motions in soft actuators due to the variety of their applications. For that matter, multi-DOF actuators have been developed with the purpose to generate different movements in a single actuator, mainly bending. However, these actuators are still limited in mobility range, and some of them do not perform continuous curvatures. This paper presents the design, characterisation and implementations of a multi-DOF soft pneumatic module. The internal structure of the proposed module is composed of four channels, which generate bending in several directions. The finite element method analysis demonstrates that the actuator performs continuous curvatures for different pressure values. We present a repeatable and easy manufacturing process using the casting technique, considering the material Ecoflex 00-50; as well as the kinematic model of the actuator, taking into consideration two bending Degrees of Freedom (DOFs). Furthermore, we performed bending characterisation for all possible combinations of the four channels via computer vision, demonstrating a wide mobility range and performing continuous curvatures. Additionally, we evaluated the kinematic model with characterisation data, obtaining the angular and cartesian relationship between the pressure and continuous curvatures. On the other hand, the authors propose the design of a modular soft manipulator based on two multi-DOF modules. The kinematic model is reported. In addition, we implement a motion sequence in the manipulator to pick and place tasks.

KW - characterisation

KW - Ecoflex-0050

KW - kinematics

KW - manipulation applications

KW - multi-DOF soft pneumatic actuator

KW - soft manipulation

KW - wide range of mobility

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161850351&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S026357472300067X

DO - 10.1017/S026357472300067X

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85161850351

VL - 41

SP - 2774

EP - 2788

JO - ROBOTICA

JF - ROBOTICA

SN - 0263-5747

IS - 9

ER -