Enhancing the capabilities of soft robotic hands

该项目正在寻求提高软机器人手的制造能力和可操作性。这些改进主要通过两种方式实现：通过进步各种3D打印技术，以便设计出在没有人类干预的情况下可以制造出的完整肢体；通过改进软机器人的驱动技术，在不堵塞手本身的情况下模拟人类手中的肌肉数量。假肢最初将由气动手指和相应的软质支撑材料组成，最终将把反馈传感器整合到电子控制系统中。3D打印目前被广泛用于“硬”应用，比如形成坚固的塑料结构，而这些结构以前很难用传统方法制造。随着更符合要求的材料被设计用于3D打印机，它正逐渐被引入“软”市场。这些柔软的材料已被证明类似于一些生物组织，因此可以进一步开发来模拟皮肤的感觉和触觉。此外，在相同的打印周期内，可以并入类似于骨骼的硬材料。该项目背后的驱动力之一是将这些硬材料和软材料结合在一起，同时还在塑料中添加导电轨道，以便使用传感器和控制单元。目前的市场上有许多版本的机械手，但很少有人的手具有自由度(DOF)。例如，没有一只柔软的机器手拥有完全可对置的拇指。该项目旨在增加软机械手可以实现的可控自由度，以改善人类手的模仿性。这样做的动力来自于想要复制人类双手的灵活性，这为我们提供了令人难以置信的对形状迥异的物体的控制。拥有如此灵巧度的机械手将能够与周围环境进行更好的互动(物体操作和触觉感知)。未来，这些手将能够与现有的人形机器人甚至假肢相结合，提供更接近人类的体验，并提高与周围物体互动的能力。此外，随着3D打印作为主要制造技术的使用，产品应该更容易复制，从而增加技术的可及性。这项研究的新颖性源于生物灵感和现代制造能力的结合。目前还没有一个机器人在印刷电子设备的同时使用软机器人，也没有一个机器人的自由度与人类的手相同。这就是该项目旨在脱颖而出的地方。关于EPSRC战略，本项目属于EPSRC机器人研究领域。可以看出它与：-P1：引入下一代创新和颠覆性技术，人形手有望被改造成用于假肢，为截肢者提供医疗福利3D打印的进步可以被视为制造系统的改进-P4：通过数字化转型推动业务创新o不再依赖人类对制造过程的干预表明自主性有所改善-H4：开发未来的治疗技术，使手可以被改造为提供治疗和康复治疗(考虑将手用作增加中风患者力量的反馈机制)-H5先进的非医疗干预措施如上所述，但具有良好触觉和柔软触觉的机器人同伴将比以前市场上更愿意与之互动

This project is seeking to improve the manufacturing capability and operability for soft robotic hands. These improvements are to be achieved in two main ways: by progressing various 3D printing technologies in order to design entire limbs that can be produced without human interference; by improving the actuation technology for soft robotics to imitate the number of muscles within the human hand without congesting the hand itself. The limbs will begin as sets of pneumatically actuated finger digits with corresponding supporting soft materials and will eventually incorporate sensors for feedback into electronic control systems. 3D printing is currently used extensively for 'hard' applications such as forming strong plastic structures that were previously too difficult to fabricate with traditional means. It is gradually being introduced to the 'soft' market with more compliant materials being designed for use in 3D printers. These soft materials have been shown to be akin to some biological tissues and therefore can be further developed to emulate the feeling and touch of skin. Furthermore, within the same printing cycle, hard materials can be incorporated, which are similar to bone. One of the drives behind this project is then to combine these hard and soft materials, but also to add conductive tracks through the plastics to allow for sensors and control units to be used. The current market has many versions of robotic hands, but very few have the degrees of freedom (DOFs) that a human hand has. For example, there is not a case where a soft robot hand has a fully opposable thumb. This project seeks to increase the degrees of controllable freedom that can be achieved by a soft robotic hand in order to improve the mimicry of a human hand. The drive for this comes from wanting to copy the dexterity that human hands have, which provides us with an incredible amount of control over widely differently shaped objects. A robot hand with that amount of dexterity will be able to have much better interactions with its surroundings (object manipulation and tactile sensing). In future, these hands will be able to be combined with existing humanoid robots or even prosthetics and will provide a more human-like experience, with improved capacity for interacting with surrounding objects. Furthermore, with the use of 3D printing as a primary manufacturing technique, the product should be more easily reproducible, increasing the accessibility of the technology. The novelty of the research stems from the combination of bioinspiration and modern manufacturing capabilities. There is not currently a robot that uses soft robotics alongside printed electronics or one that has the same number of DOFs as a human hand. This is where the project aims to set itself apart. With regards to the EPSRC strategies, this project falls within the EPSRC Robotics research area. It can be seen to align with:- P1: Introduce the next generation of innovative and disruptive technologies o The humanoid hands will hopefully be able to be modified to be used in prosthetics, providing healthcare benefits to amputees o The advance in 3D printing can be seen to be an improvement in manufacturing systems- P4: Drive business innovation through digital transformation o The lack of reliance on human interference with the manufacturing process indicates that there is an improvement in autonomy- H4: Develop future therapeutic technologies o The hand can be modified to provide therapeutic and rehabilitative treatment (consider the hand being used as a feedback mechanism for increasing the strength of a patient who has suffered from a stroke)- H5 Advance non-medicinal interventions o As above, but also a robot companion with good tactile sensing and a soft touch will be more willingly interacted with than what is previously on the market