21 st International Conference on Composite Materials Xi’an, 20-25 th August 2017 A BENDING ACTUATOR BASED ON EXTENSILE PAM AND ITS APPLICATIONS FOR SOFT ROBOTICS Qinghua Guan 1 , Jian Sun 1 , Yanju Liu 2 and Jinsong Leng 1* 1 Centre for Composite Materials and Structures, Science Park of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, People’s Republic of China 2 Department of Astronautical Science and Mechanics, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, People’s Republic of China * Corresponding author (Email: [email protected]) Keywords: Bending actuator, Soft robotics, Extensile, Pneumatic, Soft Joint ABSTRACT In this study, a kind of bending actuator based on extensile Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) was proposed. The actuator was built, tested and modeled to characterize its performance and mechanical properties. And its applications for soft robotics were also explored. The bending extensile PAM consists of two 3-D-printed end fittings, an elastic tube, a braid tube and an embedded elastic frame. The free bending tests were conducted to evaluate the bending capability. The tests of output force and moment were implemented to assess its driving capability. Moreover, non-linear quasi-static model was built based on the principle of virtual work to characterize mechanical properties. To demonstrate its potential applications for soft robotics, a three-finger gripper and a soft humanoid hand based on the bending actuator were developed. Their bionic configuration enable them to adapt to diverse working conditions and mitigate unexpected impairment. In this work, the design of this actuator and the results of experiments were depicted and discussed, and the modeling results were compared with testing data and analysed carefully. This paper presents the excellent performance and intriguing prospects of this self-sensing bending actuator in soft robotics. 1 INTRODUCTION In recent years, soft structures have caught increasing attention in robotic field due to their high flexibility of performing and simplicity of structures, compared with these robotic mechanisms built with diverse rigid structures and components [1] . Traditional rigid robots require complex feedback systems and mechanical structures to avoid accidental damage to objects or operators and adapt to diverse working conditions, while soft robots are able to achieve dexterous motion via simple integrated structures and mitigate unexpected impairment with passive compliance. Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) have been used in many robotic designing but generally as contractile PAMs to utilize the high power to weight ratio [2] , while another type of PAMs, extensile PAMs, were neglected for a long time due to the much lower output force in the same size. However, with the increasing interest in soft robots, extensile PAMs and other soft actuator have shown promising potential in soft robotics owe to the properties of high deformation ratio and simplicity of structures [3] [4] [5]. In this study, a kind of bending actuator based on extensile PAMs was proposed, built and tested. Moreover, non-linear quasi-static model was built based on the principle of virtual work to characterize mechanical properties of actuators. Meanwhile, its application in soft Robotics was explored. A three- finger gripper and a soft humanoid hand based on the Bending Extensile PAM were developed and tested. 2 EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BENDING PAM Two Bending Extensile PAM (BE-1, BE-2) with different braid angles were fabricated and tested to analysis the effect of braid angle on their mechanical properties and build models, Fig. 1a. The free bending curvature and blocked force were both measured with the two Bending Extensile PAMs of BE- 1 and BE-2 under a set of working pressures to characterize their capabilities of deforming and driving.
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21st International Conference on Composite Materials
Xi’an, 20-25th August 2017
A BENDING ACTUATOR BASED ON EXTENSILE PAM AND ITS
APPLICATIONS FOR SOFT ROBOTICS
Qinghua Guan1, Jian Sun1, Yanju Liu2 and Jinsong Leng1*
1 Centre for Composite Materials and Structures, Science Park of Harbin
Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, People’s Republic of China 2 Department of Astronautical Science and Mechanics, Harbin Institute of
Technology (HIT), Harbin, People’s Republic of China