Single chamber multiple degree-of-freedom soft pneumatic actuator enabled by adjustable stiffness layers
Single chamber multiple degree-of-freedom soft pneumatic actuator enabled by adjustable stiffness layers
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DOI：
10.1088/1361-665x/aaf9c0
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发表时间：
2019-02
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
J. Santoso;E. Skorina;M. Salerno;S. de Rivaz;J. Paik;C. Onal
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Santoso;E. Skorina;M. Salerno;S. de Rivaz;J. Paik;C. Onal
软气动执行器承诺简单，适应性强，操作安全，但气动回路的性质限制了这种方法的可扩展性。本文介绍了一种在不增加独立压力源或复杂阀门网络的情况下增大气动软执行器自由度的方法。我们的方法实现了多个自由度的驱动，从一个单一的软气动室，利用可调刚度层的基础上的热塑性聚氨酯形状记忆聚合物（SMP），它改变刚度时，热激活。我们将SMP层纳入软气动致动器，允许从一个单一的压力源通过选择性激活SMP层实现多个程度的软变形。一个定制的印刷电路板作为一个控制单元，以模块化，并实现闭环控制的气动致动器。我们通过改变致动器一侧上的SMP层的温度同时保持另一侧在室温附近稳定来验证我们提出的系统和方法，并且观察到气动致动器的弯曲角度作为温度的函数而增加。此外，我们串联了两个致动器，并演示了独立的致动，允许致动器通过单个压力源形成不同的形状。我们的研究结果表明，所提出的方法可以增加自由度的软气动执行器作为替代多腔室或多阀系统。
Soft pneumatic actuators promise simple, adaptable, and safe manipulation, but the nature of pneumatic circuits limits the scalability of this approach. This paper introduces a method to augment the degrees-of-freedom of soft pneumatic actuators without increasing the number of independent pressure sources or complex valving networks. Our method achieves multiple degree-of-freedom actuation from a single soft pneumatic chamber by utilizing adjustable stiffness layers based on a thermoplastic polyurethane shape memory polymer (SMP), which changes stiffness when thermally activated. We incorporate SMP layers into a soft pneumatic actuator, allowing multiple degrees of soft deformation to be achieved from a single pressure source by selective activation of SMP layers. A custom printed circuit board acts as a control unit to modularize and enable closed-loop control of the proposed pneumatic actuator. We validated our proposed system and method by varying the temperature of the SMP layer on one side of the actuator while keeping the other side stable near room temperature and observed an increase in bending angle of the pneumatic actuator as a function of temperature. Furthermore, we connected two actuators in series and demonstrated independent actuation, allowing the actuators to form different shapes with a single pressure source. Our results show that the proposed method can augment the degrees of freedom of soft pneumatic actuators as an alternative to multi-chamber or multi-valve systems.