scholarly journals Chopstick Robot Driven by X-shaped Soft Actuator

Actuators ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Kahye Song ◽  
Youngsu Cha
Keyword(s):  
Electrostatic Force ◽  
Input Voltage ◽  
Muscle Control ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
Original Shape ◽  
Different Shapes

Chopsticks are a popular tool used every day by 1.5 billion people to pick up pieces of food of different sizes and shapes. Given that the use of chopsticks requires sophisticated muscle control, they are difficult to use for unskilled people. In this study, a chopstick robot that uses a new soft actuator was developed. Firstly, we developed an X-shaped soft actuator and tested its performance. When a voltage was applied to the actuator, the gap in the X shape was reduced by the resulting electrostatic force. Conversely, when the power was turned off, the actuator recovered its original shape owing to the elasticity of its material. We attached the X-shaped soft actuator between the chopsticks. The chopstick robot, controlled by the input voltage, can pick up various objects in the switched-on state and is able to release them when switched off. We tested the performance of the chopstick robot and analyzed the forces acting on the chopsticks. The robot can be used for picking up various objects. Moreover, the X-shaped actuator can be adapted for use in various studies, through different shapes and configurations.

scholarly journals Control-Oriented Modelling of a 3D-Printed Soft Actuator

Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Zolfagharian ◽  
Akif Kaynak ◽  
Sui Yang Khoo ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Saeid Nahavandi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Input Voltage ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
Voltage Variation ◽  
Sophisticated Model ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Rc Circuit ◽  
Soft Actuators

A new type of soft actuator was developed by using hydrogel materials and three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, attracting the attention of researchers in the soft robotics field. Due to parametric uncertainties of such actuators, which originate in both a custom design nature of 3D printing as well as time and voltage variant characteristics of polyelectrolyte actuators, a sophisticated model to estimate their behaviour is required. This paper presents a practical modeling approach for the deflection of a 3D printed soft actuator. The suggested model is composed of electrical and mechanical dynamic models while the earlier version describes the actuator as a resistive-capacitive (RC) circuit. The latter model relates the ionic charges to the bending of an actuator. The experimental results were acquired to estimate the transfer function parameters of the developed model incorporating Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy sets. The proposed model was successful in estimating the end-point trajectory of the actuator, especially in response to a broad range of input voltage variation. With some modifications in the electromechanical aspects of the model, the proposed modelling method can be used with other 3D printed soft actuators.

scholarly journals Motor Using Mechanical Vibration of Multiple Bimorph Beams

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Yaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Rotational Speed ◽  
Electrostatic Force ◽  
Mechanical Vibration ◽  
Resonance Energy ◽  
Input Voltage ◽  
Input Power ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Cantilever Beams ◽  
Flexible Material ◽  
Output Torque

The present paper proposes a non-magnetic motor with a rotor rotated by the mechanical resonance energy of four bimorph cantilever beams excited by an electrostatic force. The use of a flexible material such as silicon rubber enables conversion of translational vibration to rotary movement in one direction. The rotational speed of the proposed motor increases in proportion to the input voltage when two bimorph beams are used, and the maximum rotational speed was found to be 6,804 rpm when the input voltage was set to 24.6 V. Next, the basic characteristics of a prototype motor with four bimorph cantilever beams, including rotational speed, output torque, and efficiency, were determined experimentally. The experimental results revealed that a maximum rotational speed of 6,370 rpm was obtained when the output torque was 19.6 uNm. The proposed motor was also observed to produce an output torque of 63.7 uNm when the rotational speed was 1,491 rpm. The maximum efficiency was 6.2% when the input power was 0.3 W. For the proposed motor, the volume and weight were reduced by approximately 35%, as compared with a motor from a previous study.

scholarly journals Effect ofOrientation on Spring back for Component with Hole and without Hole

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (06) ◽  
pp. 850-856
Author(s):  
Dr. Sharad R. Gawade ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rolling Direction ◽  
Spring Back ◽  
Elastic Stresses ◽  
Bending Force ◽  
Original Shape ◽  
Different Shapes

Many components are needed to be formed into different shapes depending upon their applications. Whenever the component is formed, it is associated with little or more amount of spring back. It is because of the elastic stresses that remain in the bent-up part. When the bending force is removed, the elastic stresses remaining in the bent up part try to relieve and due to relieving of these elastic stresses the formed up component tries to regain its original shape. This movement of metal due to relieving of stresses is called spring back. In this paper, the effect of orientation on the spring back is studied for components with holes and without holes. The components are formed in U shape along the rolling direction, 450 to the rolling direction, and 900 to the rolling direction, with hole and without a hole in the component. Springback is measured and compared for all the formed-up components. It is seen that the spring back is minimum both for components with holes and without holes formed along the rolling direction. It is also seen that for the components with holes the spring back is reduced as compared with the component without the hole.

Design and Fabrication of Pneumatic Soft Gripper

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhonghua Guo ◽  
Zhongsheng Sun ◽  
Xiaoning Li
Keyword(s):  
Compressed Air ◽  
Work Piece ◽  
Soft Body ◽  
Object Shape ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Gripping Force

In this paper, a pneumatic soft gripper is proposed with inspiration from sea anemone. The gripper is composed of an actuator and several silicone tentacles. With the power of compressed air, the soft actuator expands and folds the tentacles. The gripper wraps tentacles around the object and highly compliant tentacles conforms to the shapes of an object, enveloping and holding it. The physical model is fabricated with 3D printed PLA mold and silicone gel. The gripping mechanics are analyzed according to the experimental gripping operations. On basis of the experimental and analysis result, the compliant gripping is realized while the stability is to be increased. So the tentacle structure is then improved by multi-chamber soft body and vacuum jamming bag. The jamming bag is combined to the end of each tentacle, where the bag is filled with particles to conform to the object shape. Therefore, a reliable constraint is realized between the gripper and the object under vacuum conditions. The bending motion and shaping effect are verified through theoretical and experimental approaches. The important parameters in the vacuum jamming process are also obtained. With such device, soft adaptive bodies enlarges the contact area to adapt to the work-piece where vacuum jamming bags increase the gripping force and stability. It is convenient for universal gripping operation for objects with different shapes.

Structural phenomena in the growth of carbon nanotubes

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 750-751
Author(s):  
Jun Jiao
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Nanotubes ◽  
Growth Mechanism ◽  
Carbonaceous Material ◽  
Cluster Growth ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Rich Variety ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Point To Point

HREM studies of the carbonaceous material deposited on the cathode of a Huffman-Krätschmer arc reactor have shown a rich variety of multiple-walled nano-clusters of different shapes and forms. The preparation of the samples, as well as the variety of cluster shapes, including triangular, rhombohedral and pentagonal projections, are described elsewhere.The close registry imposed on the nanotubes, focuses attention on the cluster growth mechanism. The strict parallelism in the graphitic separation of the tube walls is maintained through changes of form and size, often leading to 180° turns, and accommodating neighboring clusters and defects. Iijima et. al. have proposed a growth scheme in terms of pentagonal and heptagonal defects and their combinations in a hexagonal graphitic matrix, the first bending the surface inward, and the second outward. We report here HREM observations that support Iijima’s suggestions, and add some new features that refine the interpretation of the growth mechanism. The structural elements of our observations are briefly summarized in the following four micrographs, taken in a Hitachi H-8100 TEM operating at an accelerating voltage of 200 kV and with a point-to-point resolution of 0.20 nm.

Enhanced type I photoreaction of indocyanine green via electrostatic-force-driven aggregation

Nanoscale ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 9517-9523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huizhen Fan ◽  
Yu Fan ◽  
Wenna Du ◽  
Rui Cai ◽  
Xinshuang Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mesoporous Silica ◽  
Indocyanine Green ◽  
Electrostatic Force ◽  
Type I ◽  
Positively Charged

ICG forms aggregates in positively charged mesoporous silica, which show an enhanced type I photoreaction pathway.

Muscle control

Nature ◽  
1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Ball
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Control

Comparison of Dc-Dc SEPIC, CUK and Flyback Converters Based LED Drivers

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-107
Author(s):  
Erdal Sehirli
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Circuit ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Input Voltage ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
Current Sensor ◽  
Switching Frequency ◽  
Led Driver ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Led Drivers ◽  
Conduction Mode

This paper presents the comparison of LED driver topologies that include SEPIC, CUK and FLYBACK DC-DC converters. Both topologies are designed for 8W power and operated in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) with 88 kHz switching frequency. Furthermore, inductors of SEPIC and CUK converters are wounded as coupled. Applications are realized by using SG3524 integrated circuit for open loop and PIC16F877 microcontroller for closed loop. Besides, ACS712 current sensor used to limit maximum LED current for closed loop applications. Finally, SEPIC, CUK and FLYBACK DC-DC LED drivers are compared with respect to LED current, LED voltage, input voltage and current. Also, advantages and disadvantages of all topologies are concluded.

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