Shin Hyung Gon, Chung Wan Kyun, Kim Keehoon
Future Robotics Office, Samsung Electronics, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, South Korea.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 1;16(1):5575. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60496-9.
Actuators are an essential part of a robot, creating movement between the robot and its environment. Actuators with thin and flexible shapes can operate in a wider variety of environments, and actuators with multiple degrees of freedom can generate more complex movements. Here, we propose a soft pneumatic actuator in the form of a thin, flexible sheet that can generate different motion vector fields on its surface. The actuator contains dozens of thin pneumatic chambers and multi-channel pneumatic circuits connecting them in its thin body, converting input pressure into complex surface movements. Depending on the pressure sequence, it can produce surface movements in six different directions, at different speeds, and over different distances. The versatility of the proposed actuator is demonstrated through tasks such as obstacle removal in narrow pipes, in-hand manipulation, and underwater object transport.
执行器是机器人的重要组成部分，可在机器人与其环境之间产生运动。形状薄且灵活的执行器能够在更多样化的环境中运行，而具有多个自由度的执行器可以产生更复杂的运动。在此，我们提出一种呈薄而灵活薄片形式的软气动执行器，它能够在其表面生成不同的运动矢量场。该执行器在其薄型主体中包含数十个薄气动腔室以及连接它们的多通道气动回路，可将输入压力转化为复杂的表面运动。根据压力序列，它能够以不同速度、在不同距离上沿六个不同方向产生表面运动。通过诸如狭窄管道内障碍物清除、手部操作和水下物体运输等任务，展示了所提出执行器的多功能性。
