Soft-robotic arm inspired by the octopus: II. From artificial requirements to innovative technological solutions
Soft-robotic arm inspired by the octopus: II. From artificial requirements to innovative technological solutions
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DOI：
10.1088/1748-3182/7/2/025005
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发表时间：
2012-06-01
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Laschi, C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mazzolai, B.;Margheri, L.;Laschi, C.
软机器人技术是当前机器人学研究的一个热点，因为软机器人具有与真实环境更好地交互的能力。作为软机器人创新技术发展的灵感来源，章鱼是特别有趣的“动物模型”。章鱼的手臂具有独特的生物力学能力，将显著的柔韧性与施加巨大力量的能力结合在一起，因为它们没有刚性结构，但可以改变和控制它们的僵硬程度。章鱼手臂的运动能力是其肌肉的特殊排列和组织特性的结果。作者在一项专门的研究中对这些特殊能力进行了调查，该研究致力于确定这些生物功能背后的关键原则，并推导出机器人解决方案的工程要求。本文是由两部分组成的系列文章中的第二篇，介绍了如何使用确定的需求来创建创新的技术解决方案，如软材料、机械装置和执行器。实验表明，这些提出的解决方案能够确保在顺应性、伸长率和力方面与生物模型中相同的性能。这些结果代表了创新的软机器人系统的有用和相关的组件，并表明它们可能用于创造新一代高度灵巧的软体机器人。
Soft robotics is a current focus in robotics research because of the expected capability of soft robots to better interact with real-world environments. As a point of inspiration in the development of innovative technologies in soft robotics, octopuses are particularly interesting 'animal models'. Octopus arms have unique biomechanical capabilities that combine significant pliability with the ability to exert a great deal of force, because they lack rigid structures but can change and control their degree of stiffness. The octopus arm motor capability is a result of the peculiar arrangement of its muscles and the properties of its tissues. These special abilities have been investigated by the authors in a specific study dedicated to identifying the key principles underlying these biological functions and deriving engineering requirements for robotics solutions. This paper, which is the second in a two-part series, presents how the identified requirements can be used to create innovative technological solutions, such as soft materials, mechanisms and actuators. Experiments indicate the ability of these proposed solutions to ensure the same performance as in the biological model in terms of compliance, elongation and force. These results represent useful and relevant components of innovative soft-robotic systems and suggest their potential use to create a new generation of highly dexterous, soft-bodied robots.