A Six Degrees-of-Freedom Soft Robotic Joint With Tilt-Arranged Origami Actuator

Liu, Sicong1; Liu, Jianhui2; Zou, Kehan2; Wang, Xiaocheng3; Fang, Zhonggui2; Yi, Juan2; Wang, Zheng2

2022-12-01

10.1115/1.4054731

Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics-Transactions of the ASME   Impact Factor & Quartile

1942-4302

1942-4310

Soft manipulators attract increasing interest in robotic applications involving the unstructured environment and human-robot interaction. The majority of the soft manipulator with fluidic actuators consists of joints that are constructed by parallel actuators, achieving rotation and extension. The inability to output twisting and lateral translations concurrently in the joints hinders the applications of such soft manipulators that require dexterous manipulation. In this work, the tilted actuator soft robotic (TASR) joint with 6DOF mobility, i.e., three rotations and three translations, is studied by kinematic modeling, simulations, and experiments. The 6DOF joint has a lightweight (74.8 g) due to the implementation of soft origami actuators (SOA) and soft-rigid structure. The investigation on the characteristics of the 4-joint assembly recorded maximum in-plane translations over a 70 mm range (70% of its diameter), axial translation over 50 mm (27% of its length), and rotations over 120 deg in all three directions. Kinematic modeling and FEM simulations have been carried out on the mechanical behaviors of the joint. A soft manipulator has been produced to verify the practicality of the joint in constructing the soft robotic systems, with the repetitive accuracy and movements demonstrated in an application scenario. The 6DOF TASR joint showed the potential to be implemented in constructing dexterous and lightweight soft robotic systems, with mass-production readiness.

folding and origami mechanism design soft robots

SCI

English

First ; Corresponding

Science, Technology, and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality[ZDSYS20200811143601004] ; GuangDong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation[2021A1515110658] ; NSFC[51975268] ; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Human-Augmentation and Rehabilitation Robotics in Universities, HK RGC Grant[T42-717/20-R]

Engineering ; Robotics

Engineering, Mechanical ; Robotics

WOS:000877765800009

ASME

Web of Science

1.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Guangdong Prov Key Lab Human Augmentat & Rehabil, Dept Mech & Energy Engn, Shenzhen Key Lab Biomimet Robot & Intelligent Sys, Shenzhen 518000, Peoples R China
2.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Mech & Energy Engn, Shenzhen 518000, Peoples R China
3.Tsinghua Univ, Ctr Intelligent Control & Telesci, Tsinghua Shenzhen Int Grad Sch, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China

Liu, Sicong,Liu, Jianhui,Zou, Kehan,et al. A Six Degrees-of-Freedom Soft Robotic Joint With Tilt-Arranged Origami Actuator[J]. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics-Transactions of the ASME,2022,14(6).

Liu, Sicong.,Liu, Jianhui.,Zou, Kehan.,Wang, Xiaocheng.,Fang, Zhonggui.,...&Wang, Zheng.(2022).A Six Degrees-of-Freedom Soft Robotic Joint With Tilt-Arranged Origami Actuator.Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics-Transactions of the ASME,14(6).

Liu, Sicong,et al."A Six Degrees-of-Freedom Soft Robotic Joint With Tilt-Arranged Origami Actuator".Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics-Transactions of the ASME 14.6(2022).