Design and Fabrication of a Multi-motion Mode Soft Crawling Robot
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Journal of Bionic Engineering http://www.springer.com/journal/42235
Design and Fabrication of a Multi-motion Mode Soft Crawling Robot Youxu Chen1,2, Bingbing Hu1,2, Jiakang Zou1,2, Wei Zhang1,2, Deshan Wang2, Guoqing Jin1,2* 1. Robotics and Microsystems Center, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China 2. School of Mechanical and Electric Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
Abstract This article proposes a novel pneumatic soft actuator, which can perform bending in different directions under positive or negative air pressure. The actuators are composed of multiple airbags, and the design of the airbags is analyzed. A pneumatic soft robot based on these soft actuators is designed and fabricated by 3D printing technology. This robot consists of three soft multi-bladder actuators, one soft sensor, middle layer, bottom layer, front barb, front feet and rear feet. According to the different positive or negative pressure control of the three soft multi-bladder actuators, the robot can perform both linear, crossing and climbing movements. The soft robot has excellent environmental adaptability and can pass through complex environments by combining three modes of motion. Then, we establish the closed-loop automatic control system using soft sensor. The soft sensor can be stretched and compressed as the soft robot’s movement. Finally, the automatic control system is verified by linear, crossing and climbing movement experiments. Results indicate that the robot can pass through complex environments under the closed-loop control system. Keywords: soft multi-bladder actuator, 3D printing, soft robot, soft sensor Copyright © Jilin University 2020.
1 Introduction Nature has long been the source of inspiration to make new kind of machines. Learning from the soft and body compliance of creatures, a new class of machine, called soft robot, has been developed, which is now the hot spot and development frontier of robotics. Compared with traditional rigid robots, the soft robots show good environment adaptability and human-machine interactivity. They can adjust their structures to adapt to environment changes, and can be applied in the fields of military, scientific research and medical treatment in the future. At the moment, most of the bionic soft robots are designed to adapt to the complex and varied natural environment[1,2]. The soft crawling robot is one of the main research directions of soft robots. Many soft crawling robots are capable of performing both linear and turning movements, and some even have the ability of jumping, rolling, and swimming[3,4]. Inspired by nature, scientists have studied and designed a series of soft crawling robots in the last decade[5,6]. At present, the soft crawling robots can be driven by different driving modes, such as pneumatics[7], dielectric elastomer[8], ionic polymer *Corresponding author: Guoqing Jin E-mail: [email protected]
metal composite, Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)[9], and responsive hydrogel[10]. Umedachi et al. designed a soft crawling robot based on a 3D printed s
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