Design of a Soft Robot with Multiple Motion Patterns Using Soft Pneumatic Actuators

2017 4th International Conference on Advanced Materials, Mechanics and Structural Engineering

材料科学;机械制造

Miao, Yu^1 ; Dong, Wei^1 ; Du, Zhijiang^1

State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, China^1

关键词: Control boards;    Control valves;    External environments;    Multiple motions;    Narrow spaces;    Robotic systems;    Soft actuators;    Soft material;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/269/1/012013/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/269/1/012013

学科分类：材料科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Soft robots are made of soft materials and have good flexibility and infinite degrees of freedom in theory. These properties enable soft robots to work in narrow space and adapt to external environment. In this paper, a 2-DOF soft pneumatic actuator is introduced, with two chambers symmetrically distributed on both sides and a jamming cylinder along the axis. Fibers are used to constrain the expansion of the soft actuator. Experiments are carried out to test the performance of the soft actuator, including bending and elongation characteristics. A soft robot is designed and fabricated by connecting four soft pneumatic actuators to a 3D-printed board. The soft robotic system is then established. The pneumatic circuit is built by pumps and solenoid valves. The control system is based on the control board Arduino Mega 2560. Relay modules are used to control valves and pressure sensors are used to measure pressure in the pneumatic circuit. Experiments are conducted to test the performance of the proposed soft robot.