Development of Pneumatic Rotary Soft Actuator Made of Silicone Rubber

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiro Noritsugu ◽  
◽  
Mitsuhiko Kubota ◽  
Sadaharu Yoshimatsu
Keyword(s):  
Silicone Rubber ◽  
Control Algorithm ◽  
Compressed Air ◽  
Robot Hand ◽  
Soft Robot ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Partial Difference ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Rotary Type

A soft actuator with inherent flexibility has been required to built up a soft mechanical drive system such as a human beings collaboration robot and a welfare machine. In this study, a rotary type soft actuator made of silicone rubber driven with compressed air has been developed. This actuator can realize the desired rotary operation by using the fiber reinforcement and the partial difference of stiffness owing to the rubber thickness. In this paper, the structure and operational principle of the actuator is described, and the fundamental properties of actuator are experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that the actuator has the sufficiently large operational angle and the dynamic characteristics of a damping and elasticity component. Its application to a soft robot finger and a robot hand are discussed. Owing to the flexibility of actuator, this hand can grasp unshaped or flexible objects without any complicated control algorithm. The availability of this actuator is confirmed through some experiments.

Soft Planar Actuator using Pneumatic-Rubber Balls

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiro Noritsugu ◽  
◽  
Daijyu Kaneshiro ◽  
Takashi Inoue
Keyword(s):  
Elastic Deformation ◽  
Silicone Rubber ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Compressed Air ◽  
Rubber Tube ◽  
Carrier System ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
System A ◽  
Soft Actuators

The manipulation of fragile and shapeless objects requires an actuator with enough flexibility and safety not to injure manipulated objects. To cope with such requirements, soft actuators have been developed, most of which utilize elastic deformation of a rubber tube or balloon caused by compressed air pressure. Such a pneumatic rubber actuator is expected to be effectively used as a flexible and friendly soft actuator in various fields. In this study, to realize a flexible pneumatic carrier system, a soft planar actuator using rubber balls has been developed assuming that the actuator directly contacts carried objects. This paper describes a fundamental principle of operation, a control method and experimental results. Additionally, a small sized soft planar actuator made of silicone rubber is described. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed actuator mechanism.

Performance study of RTV-2 Silicone Rubber Material For Soft Actuator by Experimental and Numerical methods: The Effect of Inflation Pressure and Wall Thickness

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7524-7532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepak D. ◽  
Nitesh Kumar ◽  
Shreyas P. Shetty ◽  
Saurabh Jain ◽  
Manoj Bhat
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Methods ◽  
Wall Thickness ◽  
Silicone Rubber ◽  
Inflation Pressure ◽  
Performance Study ◽  
Rubber Material ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
Alternative Materials ◽  
Load Carrying ◽  
Influential Parameters

The expensive nature of currently used materials in the soft robotic industry demands the consideration of alternative materials for fabrication. This work investigates the performance of RTV-2 grade silicone rubber for fabrication of a soft actuator. Initially, a cylindrical actuator is fabricated using this material and its performance is experimentally assessed for different pressures. Further, parametric variations of the effect of wall thickness and inflation pressure are studied by numerical methods. Results show that, both wall thickness and inflation pressure are influential parameters which affect the elongation behaviour of the actuator. Thin (1.5 mm) sectioned actuators produced 76.97% more elongation compared to thick sectioned, but the stress induced is 89.61 % higher. Whereas, the thick sectioned actuator (6 mm) showed a higher load transmitting capability. With change in wall thickness from 1.5 mm to 6 mm, the elongation is reduced by 76.97 %, 38.35 %, 21.05 % and 11.43 % at pressure 100 kPa, 75 kPa, 50 kPa and 25 kPa respectively. The induced stress is also found reduced by 89.61 %, 86.66 %, 84.46 % and 68.68 % at these pressures. The average load carrying capacity of the actuator is found to be directly proportional to its wall thickness and inflation pressure.

scholarly journals Application and Analysis of an Ionic Liquid Gel in a Soft Robot

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Chenghong Zhang ◽  
Bin He ◽  
Zhipeng Wang ◽  
Yanmin Zhou ◽  
Aiguo Ming
Keyword(s):  
Ionic Liquid ◽  
Uv Light ◽  
Electroactive Polymers ◽  
Electroactive Polymer ◽  
Soft Robot ◽  
Polymer Gel ◽  
Basic Module ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
New Type ◽  
Soft Actuators

Due to their light weight, flexibility, and low energy consumption, ionic electroactive polymers have become a hotspot for bionic soft robotics and are ideal materials for the preparation of soft actuators. Because the traditional ionic electroactive polymers, such as ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs), contain water ions, a soft actuator does not work properly upon the evaporation of water ions. An ionic liquid polymer gel is a new type of ionic electroactive polymer that does not contain water ions, and ionic liquids are more thermally and electrochemically stable than water. These liquids, with a low melting point and a high ionic conductivity, can be used in ionic electroactive polymer soft actuators. An ionic liquid gel (ILG), a new type of soft actuator material, was obtained by mixing 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIMBF4), hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), diethoxyacetophenone (DEAP) and ZrO2 and then polymerizing this mixture into a gel state under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. An ILG soft actuator was designed, the material preparation principle was expounded, and the design method of the soft robot mechanism was discussed. Based on nonlinear finite element theory, the deformation mechanism of the ILG actuator was deeply analyzed and the deformation of the soft robot when grabbing an object was also analyzed. A soft robot was designed with the soft actuator as the basic module. The experimental results show that the ILG soft robot has good driving performance, and the soft robot can grab a 105 mg object at an input voltage of 3.5 V.

scholarly journals Tactile Slippage Analysis in Optical Three-Axis Tactile Sensor for Robotic Hand

2013 ◽  
Vol 465-466 ◽  
pp. 1375-1379
Author(s):  
Hanafiah Yussof ◽  
Zahari Nur Ismarrubie ◽  
Ahmad Khushairy Makhtar ◽  
Masahiro Ohka ◽  
Siti Nora Basir
Keyword(s):  
Control Algorithm ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Robotic Hand ◽  
Robot Hand ◽  
Robot Arm ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Shear Forces ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Robot Arm Control ◽  
Two Phases

This paper presents experimental results of object handling motions to evaluate tactile slippage sensation in a multi fingered robot arm with optical three-axis tactile sensors installed on its two hands. The optical three-axis tactile sensor is a type of tactile sensor capable of defining normal and shear forces simultaneously. Shear force distribution is used to define slippage sensation in the robot hand system. Based on tactile slippage analysis, a new control algorithm was proposed. To improve performance during object handling motions, analysis of slippage direction is conducted. The control algorithm is classified into two phases: grasp-move-release and grasp-twist motions. Detailed explanations of the control algorithm based on the existing robot arm control system are presented. The experiment is conducted using a bottle cap, and the results reveal good performance of the proposed control algorithm to accomplish the proposed object handling motions.

Design of flexible joint using in soft robot hand

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Hyeon Kim ◽  
Zheng Yuan Li ◽  
Hyouk Ryeol Choi ◽  
Hyungpil Moon ◽  
Ja Choon Koo
Keyword(s):  
Robot Hand ◽  
Soft Robot ◽  
Flexible Joint

scholarly journals Soft Actuator Model for a Soft Robot With Variable Stiffness by Coupling Pneumatic Structure and Jamming Mechanism

IEEE Access ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 26356-26371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-Yu Xu ◽  
Feng-You Jiang ◽  
Quan-Sheng Jiang ◽  
Yu-Xuan Lu
Keyword(s):  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Soft Robot ◽  
Soft Actuator

Development of Pneumatic Soft Robot Hand for a Human Friendly Robot

2002 ◽  
Vol 2002 (0) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiro Noritsugu ◽  
Masahiro Takaiwa ◽  
Daisuke Sasaki ◽  
Hiroshi Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Robot Hand ◽  
Soft Robot

Development of Pneumatic Soft Robot Hand for Human Friendly Robot

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Sasaki ◽  
◽  
Toshiro Noritsugu ◽  
Masahiro Takaiwa
Keyword(s):  
Basic Operation ◽  
Robot Hand ◽  
Soft Robot ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Human Arm ◽  
Mutual Communication ◽  
Major Consideration

When robots interact directly with humans, safety becomes a major consideration. The purpose of this study is to realize a safe humanlike robot hand for a human-friendly robot. The structure of the soft hand is described, its basic operation shown, and wipe motion for a human arm using this hand examined. Finally, a method of force communication task is proposed, which controls mutual communication based on the operating force between a robot and a human. This method is applied to their shaking hands.

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