SBIR Phase II: Human Like Robotic Grippers Using Electroactive Polymers

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是开发一种耐用的人造材料，能够逼真地运动，在低电压(12伏)电池控制下像人类肌肉一样收缩和扩张。这种材料还将通过感知动态范围内的机械压力来复制人类的抓握能力，从温和的触摸到高度的冲击。这种材料的最初应用将是给机器人抓取器的指尖提供触觉感应。现有的执行机构不能提供流线型的伸缩来管理良好的抓地力，同时动态地感知抓地力。作为机器人夹爪的延伸，这种材料可以提供一种重量轻、直观易操作的假手。其他应用包括为假肢插座制作衬垫以保持完美配合；足球和工作场所头盔中的衬垫用于吸力并传达撞击频率和严重程度；用于运动和治疗鞋的鞋垫吸收力衰减、测量步频和测量脚位置；可调节的座椅腰部支撑；用于驾驶舱、扶手和汽车仪表板的无开关控制台；以及许多其他应用。这个SBIR第二阶段项目将通过增加一种具有传感能力的材料来改进机器人抓手，这将对假手和其他应用产生影响。在机器人抓手和假手中，力量和灵巧之间存在权衡；此外，感官知觉还没有很好地发展。对于抓取者来说，抓握过程中没有最初的温和压力，限制了对微妙物体的处理。正在开发的材料是形状变形的，作为压力传感器非常敏感。该项目的研究目标和方法/途径是：1)通过合成和建筑策略提高这些材料的驱动速度和耐久性；2)通过示波分析和放大电路表征速度和可检测到的压力；3)通过受控反馈回路(S)将形状变形和传感属性结合到现成的夹持器中，使用强大的用户友好型电子设备；4)通过收缩/膨胀周期和通常遇到的握力的长期循环测试来确定耐久性(每种测试方法都有数百万次循环)；以及5)制造具有类似触觉的复杂机器人抓手，并将其强度和灵活性与人类的手进行比较。该项目的目标和范围是优化这些材料的形状变形和传感特征，并使用仿生设计，特别是围绕钳柄以及第一和第二个手指(拇指和食指)的解剖，以达到复制人类抓取的预期结果。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be the development of a durable artificial material capable of life-like motion, contracting and expanding like human muscle when controlled by low voltage (12-volt batteries). This material also will replicate human grasp by sensing mechanical pressure across a dynamic range, from gentle touch to high impact. The initial application for this material will be to give tactile sensing to fingertips of robotic grippers. Existing actuators cannot provide streamlined expansion and contraction to manage a good grip while dynamically sensing grip pressure. As an extension to the robotic gripper, this material could provide a lightweight, intuitively easy-to-operate prosthetic hand. Other applications include creating pads for prosthetic sockets to maintain perfect fit; padded liners in football and workplace helmets to absorb forces and communicate impact frequency and severity; shoe inserts for athletic and therapeutic footwear absorbing force attenuation, measuring step frequency, and measuring foot positioning; adjustable lumbar support for seats; switchless consoles for the cockpit, armrests, and dashboards of automobiles; and many others. This SBIR Phase II project will advance robotic grippers by adding a material with sensing capability, with implications for prosthetic hands and other applications. In robotic grippers and prosthetic hands, there is a trade-off between strength and dexterity; furthermore, the sensory perception has not yet been well developed. For grippers, initial gentle pressure has been absent from grip processes, inhibiting handling of delicate objects. The materials under development are shape-morphing and extremely sensitive as pressure sensors. The research objectives and methods/approaches of this project are to: 1) advance the actuation speed and durability of these materials through synthetic and architectural strategies; 2) characterize the speed and detectable pressures through oscilloscopic analysis and amplification circuitry; 3) tie the shape-morphing and sensing attributes together through controlled feedback loop(s) into off-the-shelf grippers, using robust user-friendly electronics; 4) determine durability through long-term cycle testing of contraction/expansion cycles and typically encountered grip pressures (millions of cycles for each test method); and 5) produce sophisticated robotic grippers with tactile-like touch and compare the strength and dexterity with those of the human hand. The goals and scope of this project are to optimize both the shape-morphing and sensing features of these materials and use biomimetic design, particularly around the pincer grip and anatomy of the first and second digits (thumb and index finger), with the anticipated result of replicating human grasp.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.