Designing soft robots that are able to perceive unstructured,dynamic environments and their deformations has been a long-term goal.Previously reported self-sensing soft actuators were mostly constructed via integratin...Designing soft robots that are able to perceive unstructured,dynamic environments and their deformations has been a long-term goal.Previously reported self-sensing soft actuators were mostly constructed via integrating separate actuators and sensors.The actuation performances and the sensing reliability are affected owing to the unmatched materials and weak connections.Realizing a seamless integration of soft actuators and sensors remains a grand challenge.Here,we report a fabrication strategy to endow soft actuators with sensing capability and programmable actuation performances.The foam inside the actuator functions as actuator and sensor simultaneously,effectively addressing the conformability and connection reliability issues that existed in current self-sensing actuators.The actuators are lightweight(a decrease of 58%in weight),powerful(lifting a load of 433 times of its own weight),and versatile(coupling twisting and contraction motions).Furthermore,the actuators are able to detect multiple physical stimuli with high reliability,demonstrating their exteroception and proprioception capability.Two self-sensing soft robotic prototypes,including a bionic bicep and a bionic neck,are constructed to illustrate their multifunctionality.Our study opens up new possibilities for the design of soft actuators and has promising potential in a variety of applications,ranging from human-robot interaction,soft orthotics,to wearable robotics.展开更多
Traditional hand rehabilitation gloves usually use electrical motor as actuator with disadvantages of heaviness,bulkiness and less compliance.Recently,the soft pneumatic actuator is demonstrated to be more suitable fo...Traditional hand rehabilitation gloves usually use electrical motor as actuator with disadvantages of heaviness,bulkiness and less compliance.Recently,the soft pneumatic actuator is demonstrated to be more suitable for hand rehabilitation compared to motor because of its inherent compliance,flexibility and safety.In order to design a wearable glove in request of hand rehabilitation,a soft hoop-reinforced pneumatic actuator is presented.By analyzing the influence of its section shape and geometrical parameters on bending performance,the preferred structure of actuator is achieved based on finite element method.An improved hoop-reinforced actuator is designed after the fabrication and initial measurement,and its mathematical model is built in order to quickly obtain the bending angle response when pressurized.A series of experiment about bending performance are implemented to validate the agreement between the finite element,mathematical and experimental results,and the performance improvement of hoop-reinforced actuator.In addition,the designed hand rehabilitation glove is tested by measuring its output force and actual wearing experience.The output force can reach 2.5 to 3 N when the pressure is 200 kPa.The research results indicate that the designed glove with hoop-reinforced actuator can meet the requirements of hand rehabilitation and has prospective application in hand rehabilitation.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52205073)Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.LD22E050002)+1 种基金China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents(Grant No.BX2021258)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant No.2022M710125)。
文摘Designing soft robots that are able to perceive unstructured,dynamic environments and their deformations has been a long-term goal.Previously reported self-sensing soft actuators were mostly constructed via integrating separate actuators and sensors.The actuation performances and the sensing reliability are affected owing to the unmatched materials and weak connections.Realizing a seamless integration of soft actuators and sensors remains a grand challenge.Here,we report a fabrication strategy to endow soft actuators with sensing capability and programmable actuation performances.The foam inside the actuator functions as actuator and sensor simultaneously,effectively addressing the conformability and connection reliability issues that existed in current self-sensing actuators.The actuators are lightweight(a decrease of 58%in weight),powerful(lifting a load of 433 times of its own weight),and versatile(coupling twisting and contraction motions).Furthermore,the actuators are able to detect multiple physical stimuli with high reliability,demonstrating their exteroception and proprioception capability.Two self-sensing soft robotic prototypes,including a bionic bicep and a bionic neck,are constructed to illustrate their multifunctionality.Our study opens up new possibilities for the design of soft actuators and has promising potential in a variety of applications,ranging from human-robot interaction,soft orthotics,to wearable robotics.
基金Project(51305202)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘Traditional hand rehabilitation gloves usually use electrical motor as actuator with disadvantages of heaviness,bulkiness and less compliance.Recently,the soft pneumatic actuator is demonstrated to be more suitable for hand rehabilitation compared to motor because of its inherent compliance,flexibility and safety.In order to design a wearable glove in request of hand rehabilitation,a soft hoop-reinforced pneumatic actuator is presented.By analyzing the influence of its section shape and geometrical parameters on bending performance,the preferred structure of actuator is achieved based on finite element method.An improved hoop-reinforced actuator is designed after the fabrication and initial measurement,and its mathematical model is built in order to quickly obtain the bending angle response when pressurized.A series of experiment about bending performance are implemented to validate the agreement between the finite element,mathematical and experimental results,and the performance improvement of hoop-reinforced actuator.In addition,the designed hand rehabilitation glove is tested by measuring its output force and actual wearing experience.The output force can reach 2.5 to 3 N when the pressure is 200 kPa.The research results indicate that the designed glove with hoop-reinforced actuator can meet the requirements of hand rehabilitation and has prospective application in hand rehabilitation.
