Modeling of Soft Robots Actuated by Twisted-and-Coiled Actuators
Modeling of Soft Robots Actuated by Twisted-and-Coiled Actuators
复制标题
由扭转线圈致动器驱动的软机器人建模
DOI：
10.1109/tmech.2018.2873014
复制
发表时间：
2019-02-01
影响因子：
6.4
通讯作者：
Zhao, Jianguo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pawlowski, Benjamin;Sun, Jiefeng;Zhao, Jianguo
由软材料制成的软机器人在安全性、机动性、适应性等方面均优于传统刚性机器人。人们已经提出了各种方法来驱动软机器人，例如电缆、气动或智能材料（例如形状记忆合金、介电弹性体或离子聚合物金属复合材料等）。在本文中，我们建议利用最近发现的人造肌肉——扭转线圈致动器（TCA）来驱动软机器人。与现有的驱动方法相比，TCA可以电子驱动，可以嵌入软材料内部以实现分布式驱动，并且制造简单且成本低廉。我们建立了 TCA 和 TCA 驱动软机器人的通用建模框架，包括基于物理的 TCA 模型以及 TCA 驱动软机器人的正向和逆向运动静力学，其中 TCA 驱动和软机器人变形之间存在耦合。进行了大量的实验来验证所提出的模型。所提出的工作不仅将为使用 TCA 驱动软机器人奠定理论基础，而且还使 TCA 驱动的软机器人得到更广泛的应用（例如操纵或运动）。
Soft robots made from soft materials outperform traditional rigid robots in safety, maneuverability, and adaptability. Various methods have been proposed to actuate soft robots such as cables, pneumatic, or smart materials (e.g., shape memory alloys, dielectric elastomer, or ionic polymer-metal composites, etc.). In this paper, we propose to leverage a recently discovered artificial muscle-twisted-and-coiled actuators (TCAs)-to actuate soft robots. Compared with existing actuation methods, TCAs can be actuated electronically, can be embedded inside soft materials to enable distributed actuation, and are easy and low-cost to manufacture. We establish a general modeling framework for TCAs and TCA-actuated soft robots, including a physics-based model for TCAs as well as both the forward and inverse kinetostatics for TCA-actuated soft robots, where a coupling between TCA actuation and deformation of soft robots exists. Extensive experiments are conducted to verify the proposed models. The presented work will not only lay a theoretical foundation for using TCAs to actuate soft robots but also enable wider application for TCA-actuated soft robots (e.g., manipulation or locomotion).