Niiyama Ryuma, Seong Young Ah, Kawahara Yoshihiro, Kuniyoshi Yasuo
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Front Robot AI. 2021 Aug 24;8:720683. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2021.720683. eCollection 2021.
Inflatables are safe and lightweight structures even at the human scale. Inflatable robots are expected to be applied to physical human-robot interaction (pHRI). Although active joint mechanisms are essential for developing inflatable robots, the existing mechanisms are complex in structure and it is difficult to integrate actuators, which diminish the advantages of inflatables. This study proposes blower-powered soft inflatable joints that are easy to fabricate and contain enough space for an actuation inside. The joints are driven by tendon wires pulled by linear actuators. We derived a theoretical model for both unilateral and bilateral joints and demonstrated a hugging robot with multiple joints as an application of the proposed joint mechanism. The novelty of the proposed joint mechanism and the inflatable robot is that rigid parts have been thoroughly eliminated and the tendons for actuation have been successfully hidden inside. Moreover, the active control of the internal pressure makes inflatables resistant to punctures. We expect that the contact safety of inflatable robots will facilitate advancement of the pHRI field.
即使在人体尺度下，充气结构也是安全且轻质的。充气机器人有望应用于人机物理交互（pHRI）。尽管主动关节机构对于开发充气机器人至关重要，但现有的机构结构复杂，且难以集成致动器，这削弱了充气结构的优势。本研究提出了由鼓风机驱动的软充气关节，这种关节易于制造，内部有足够的空间用于驱动。关节由线性致动器拉动的腱线驱动。我们推导了单边和双边关节的理论模型，并展示了一个具有多个关节的拥抱机器人，作为所提出关节机构的应用。所提出的关节机构和充气机器人的新颖之处在于彻底消除了刚性部件，并成功地将驱动肌腱隐藏在内部。此外，内部压力的主动控制使充气结构能够抵抗穿刺。我们期望充气机器人的接触安全性将推动pHRI领域的发展。
