Tang Zhichuan, Yang Keshuai, Wang Hang, Cui Zhixuan, Jin Xiaoneng, Peng Yuxin, Liu Pengcheng
Industrial Design Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China; Modern Industrial Design Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310013, China.
Industrial Design Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
J Adv Res. 2024 Sep;63:91-102. doi: 10.1016/j.jare.2023.10.004. Epub 2023 Oct 12.
Biomimetic soft pneumatic actuators (SPA) with Kresling origami patterns have unique advantages over conventional rigid robots, owing to their adaptability and safety.
Inspired by cloning and moving behaviors observed from salps, we proposed an SPA based on a Kresling-like pattern with a rigid skeleton. The elongation and output force were tested, and the effectiveness of the applications with the SPA was evaluated.
The proposed SPA consists of rigid skeletons and a soft skin. The rigid skeletons are constructed using layers of Kresling-like patterns, while a novel extensible inserting structure is devised to replace the folds found in conventional Kresling patterns. This innovative approach ensures that the SPA exhibits axial contraction/expansion motion without any twisting movement. To mimic the bionic characteristics of swimming and ingesting progress of salps, the proposed SPA can perform an axial contraction motion without twisting and a controllable bending motion based on multi-layered Kresling-like patterns; to mimic the cloning and releasing life phenomena of salps, the number of layers of Kresling-like patterns is changeable by adding or reducing skeleton components according to the practical needs.
The experimental elongation results on the SPA with multiple layers of Kresling-like patterns show that the elongation can increase to above 162% by adding layers; the experimental output force results show that the three-layer SPA can provide 6.36 N output force at an air flow rate of 10 L/min, and the output force will continue to increase as the number of layers of Kresling-like pattern increases or the air flow rate increases. Further, we demonstrate the applications of the SPA in soft grippers, scissor grippers, claw grippers and pipe crawlers.
Our proposed SPA can avoid twisting in the radial contraction motion with high elongation and output force, and provide the practical guidance for bio-inspired soft robotic applications.
具有克雷斯林折纸图案的仿生软气动致动器（SPA）由于其适应性和安全性，相较于传统刚性机器人具有独特优势。
受樽海鞘克隆和移动行为的启发，我们提出了一种基于带有刚性骨架的类克雷斯林图案的SPA。测试了其伸长率和输出力，并评估了该SPA应用的有效性。
所提出的SPA由刚性骨架和软外皮组成。刚性骨架采用类克雷斯林图案层构建，同时设计了一种新颖的可扩展插入结构来取代传统克雷斯林图案中的褶皱。这种创新方法确保了SPA在无任何扭转运动的情况下呈现轴向收缩/扩张运动。为了模拟樽海鞘游泳和摄食过程的仿生特性，所提出的SPA基于多层类克雷斯林图案可执行无扭转的轴向收缩运动和可控弯曲运动；为了模拟樽海鞘的克隆和释放生命现象，类克雷斯林图案的层数可根据实际需要通过增加或减少骨架组件来改变。
对具有多层类克雷斯林图案的SPA的实验伸长率结果表明，通过增加层数伸长率可提高到162%以上；实验输出力结果表明，三层SPA在空气流速为10 L/min时可提供6.36 N的输出力，且输出力将随着类克雷斯林图案层数的增加或空气流速的增加而持续增大。此外，我们展示了该SPA在软夹爪、剪式夹爪、爪式夹爪和管道爬行器中的应用。
我们提出的SPA在径向收缩运动中可避免扭转，具有高伸长率和输出力，并为受生物启发的软机器人应用提供了实际指导。
