A new kind of flexible pneumatic wall-climbing robot,named WALKMAN-I,was proposed. WALKMAN-I is basically composed of a flexible pneumatic actuator (FPA),a flexible pneumatic spherical joint and six suction cups. It h...A new kind of flexible pneumatic wall-climbing robot,named WALKMAN-I,was proposed. WALKMAN-I is basically composed of a flexible pneumatic actuator (FPA),a flexible pneumatic spherical joint and six suction cups. It has many characteristics of low-cost,lightweight,simple structure and good flexibility. Its operating principle was introduced. Then three basic locomotion modes,which are linear motion,curvilinear motion and crossing the orthogonal planes,were presented. The safety conditions of WALKMAN-I were discussed and built. Finally,the control system was designed and experiments were carried out. Experimental results show that WALKMAN-I is able to climb on the vertical wall surface along a straight line or a curved path,and has the ability of crossing orthogonal planes and obstacles. The maximum rotation angle reaches 90°,the maximum velocity reaches 5 mm/s,and the rotation angle and the moving velocity of WALKMAN-I can be easily controlled.展开更多
Based on flexible pneumatic actuator(FPA),bending joint and side-sway joint,a new kind of pneumatic dexterous robot finger was developed.The finger is equipped with one five-component force sensor and four contactless...Based on flexible pneumatic actuator(FPA),bending joint and side-sway joint,a new kind of pneumatic dexterous robot finger was developed.The finger is equipped with one five-component force sensor and four contactless magnetic rotary encoders.Mechanical parts and FPAs are integrated,which reduces the overall size of the finger.Driven by FPA directly,the joint output torque is more accurate and the friction and vibration can be effectively reduced.An improved adaptive genetic algorithm(IAGA) was adopted to solve the inverse kinematics problem of the redundant finger.The statics of the finger was analyzed and the relation between fingertip force and joint torque was built.Finally,the finger force/position control principle was introduced.Tracking experiments of fingertip force/position were carried out.The experimental results show that the fingertip position tracking error is within ±1 mm and the fingertip force tracking error is within ±0.4 N.It is also concluded from the theoretical and experimental results that the finger can be controlled and it has a good application prospect.展开更多
Flexible materials are essential in bionic fields such as soft robots.However,the lack of stiffness limits the mechanical performance of soft robots and makes them difficult to develop in many extreme working conditio...Flexible materials are essential in bionic fields such as soft robots.However,the lack of stiffness limits the mechanical performance of soft robots and makes them difficult to develop in many extreme working conditions,such as lifting and excavation operations.To address this issue,we prepared a stiffness-tunable composite by dispersing low-melting-point alloy into thermosetting epoxy resin.A dramatic and rapid change in stiffness was achieved by changing the state of matter at lower temperatures,and accurate control of the composite modulus was achieved by controlling the temperature.When the alloy content is at 30vol%,the tensile modulus changes 41.6 times,while the compressive modulus changes 58.9 times.By applying the composite to a flexible actuator,the initial stiffness of the actuator was improved by 124 times,reaching 332 mN/mm.In addition,the use of stiffness-tunable materials in the wheel allowed for timely changes in the grounding area to improve friction.These flexible materials with manageable mechanical properties have wide applicability in fields including bionics,robotics,and sensing.Our findings provide a new approach to designing and developing flexible materials with improved stiffness and controllability.展开更多
The oriented actuation of biological muscles that relies on the contraction and relaxation of sarcomeres in myofibrils is the foundation of animal movement.Dielectric elastomers(DEs),which are deemed as a kind of prom...The oriented actuation of biological muscles that relies on the contraction and relaxation of sarcomeres in myofibrils is the foundation of animal movement.Dielectric elastomers(DEs),which are deemed as a kind of promising artificial muscles,can effectively transfer electric energy to mechanical energy within milliseconds under a stimulation of external electric field.Herein,the state-of-art in bioinspired oriented electroactuation of dielectric elastomer actuators(DEAs)is reviewed.The ori-ented electroactuation of DEAs shows directional movement with larger stroke,directional output,and higher energy trans-formation efficiency.In general,most of the DEs are mechanically isotropic with uniform expansion deformation,yet in practical applications they usually utilize deformation in limited direction,leading to energy waste in other directions.Thus,we have principally reviewed the efforts from physical engineering mainly based upon mechanically isotropic DEs to material preparation for mechanically anisotropic DEs,aimed at achieving oriented electroactuation of DEAs.Meanwhile,the typical bionic applications of DEAs with oriented electroactuation are introduced,the main challenges are summarized,and some perspectives for promoting this area are also proposed.We firmly believe that the development of DEAs with oriented elec-troactuation can significantly impact the fields of artificial muscles for flexible actuators and soft robotics.展开更多
Flexible actuators have significant potential in intelligent micromachines,artificial muscle,and soft robotics.However,achieving actuators with high actuation performance and feedback sensitivity remains challenging.I...Flexible actuators have significant potential in intelligent micromachines,artificial muscle,and soft robotics.However,achieving actuators with high actuation performance and feedback sensitivity remains challenging.Inspired by the dual“command-execution-feedback”of the mimic octopus,a fiber actuator with high stroke and visual-electronic dual feedback is designed by introducing an ionic liquid conductive network and a visual component of spiropyrane.By constructing a unique interchain slipping structure inside the liquid crystal elastomer(LCE),the nematic to isotropic transition temperature and maximum stroke temperature dropped to 24.29℃and 62.3℃,with decreases of 73.51%and 39.28%,respectively.Besides,the actuation stroke increases to 43.41%with an improvement of 77.11%,and the feedback sensitivity reaches to 69.17,along with a high work capacity of 189.12 kJ/m3.These provide a promising strategy for next-generation flexible actuators capable of high work capacity,large stroke,and real-time feedback.展开更多
Smart wearables equipped with integrated flexible actuators possess the ability to autonomously respond and adapt to changes in the environment.Fibrous textiles have been recognised as promising platforms for integrat...Smart wearables equipped with integrated flexible actuators possess the ability to autonomously respond and adapt to changes in the environment.Fibrous textiles have been recognised as promising platforms for integrating flexible actuators and wearables owing to their superior body compliance,lightweight nature,and programmable architectures.Various studies related to textile actuators in smart wearables have been recently reported.However,the review focusing on the advanced design of these textile actuator technologies for smart wearables is lacking.Herein,a timely and thorough review of the progress achieved in this field over the past five years is presented.This review focuses on the advanced design concepts for textile actuators in smart wearables,covering functional materials,innovative architecture configurations,external stimuli,and their applications in smart wearables.The primary aspects focus on actuating materials,formation techniques of textile architecture,actuating behaviour and performance metrics of textile actuators,various applications in smart wearables,and the design challenges for next-generation smart wearables.Ultimately,conclusive perspectives are highlighted.展开更多
Manufacturing flexible magnetic-driven actuators with complex structures and magnetic arrangements to achieve diverse functionalities is becoming a popular trend.Among various manufacturing technologies,magnetic-assis...Manufacturing flexible magnetic-driven actuators with complex structures and magnetic arrangements to achieve diverse functionalities is becoming a popular trend.Among various manufacturing technologies,magnetic-assisted digital light processing(DLP)stands out because it enables precise manufacturing of macro-scale structures and micro-scale distributions with the assistance of an external magnetic field.Current research on manufacturing magnetic flexible actuators mostly employs single materials,which limits the magnetic driving performance to some extent.Based on these characterizations,we propose a multi-material magnetic field-assisted DLP technology to produce flexible actuators with an accuracy of 200μm.The flexible actuators are printed using two materials with different mechanical and magnetic properties.Considering the interface connectivity of multi-material printing,the effect of interfaces on mechanical properties is also explored.Experimental results indicate good chemical affinity between the two materials we selected.The overlap or connection length of the interface moderately improves the tensile strength of multi-material structures.In addition,we investigate the influence of the volume fraction of the magnetic part on deformation.Simulation and experimental results indicate that increasing the volume ratio(20%to 50%)of the magnetic structure can enhance the responsiveness of the actuator(more than 50%).Finally,we successfully manufacture two multi-material flexible actuators with specific magnetic arrangements:a multi-legged crawling robot and a flexible gripper capable of crawling and grasping actions.These results confirm that this method will pave the way for further research on the precise fabrication of magnetic flexible actuators with diverse functionalities.展开更多
基金Project (50575206) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject (BX102716) supported by Xinmiao Program of Zhejiang Province, China
文摘A new kind of flexible pneumatic wall-climbing robot,named WALKMAN-I,was proposed. WALKMAN-I is basically composed of a flexible pneumatic actuator (FPA),a flexible pneumatic spherical joint and six suction cups. It has many characteristics of low-cost,lightweight,simple structure and good flexibility. Its operating principle was introduced. Then three basic locomotion modes,which are linear motion,curvilinear motion and crossing the orthogonal planes,were presented. The safety conditions of WALKMAN-I were discussed and built. Finally,the control system was designed and experiments were carried out. Experimental results show that WALKMAN-I is able to climb on the vertical wall surface along a straight line or a curved path,and has the ability of crossing orthogonal planes and obstacles. The maximum rotation angle reaches 90°,the maximum velocity reaches 5 mm/s,and the rotation angle and the moving velocity of WALKMAN-I can be easily controlled.
基金Project(2009AA04Z209) supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of ChinaProject(R1090674) supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province,ChinaProject(51075363) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘Based on flexible pneumatic actuator(FPA),bending joint and side-sway joint,a new kind of pneumatic dexterous robot finger was developed.The finger is equipped with one five-component force sensor and four contactless magnetic rotary encoders.Mechanical parts and FPAs are integrated,which reduces the overall size of the finger.Driven by FPA directly,the joint output torque is more accurate and the friction and vibration can be effectively reduced.An improved adaptive genetic algorithm(IAGA) was adopted to solve the inverse kinematics problem of the redundant finger.The statics of the finger was analyzed and the relation between fingertip force and joint torque was built.Finally,the finger force/position control principle was introduced.Tracking experiments of fingertip force/position were carried out.The experimental results show that the fingertip position tracking error is within ±1 mm and the fingertip force tracking error is within ±0.4 N.It is also concluded from the theoretical and experimental results that the finger can be controlled and it has a good application prospect.
基金This work was supported by the Project of National Key Research and Development Program of China(2018YFA0703300)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(52105299,52175271,52021003,91948302)+1 种基金Science and technology development plan project of Jilin Province(20210509047RQ,20210508057RQ)Program for JLU Science and Technology Innovative Research Team(2017TD-04).
文摘Flexible materials are essential in bionic fields such as soft robots.However,the lack of stiffness limits the mechanical performance of soft robots and makes them difficult to develop in many extreme working conditions,such as lifting and excavation operations.To address this issue,we prepared a stiffness-tunable composite by dispersing low-melting-point alloy into thermosetting epoxy resin.A dramatic and rapid change in stiffness was achieved by changing the state of matter at lower temperatures,and accurate control of the composite modulus was achieved by controlling the temperature.When the alloy content is at 30vol%,the tensile modulus changes 41.6 times,while the compressive modulus changes 58.9 times.By applying the composite to a flexible actuator,the initial stiffness of the actuator was improved by 124 times,reaching 332 mN/mm.In addition,the use of stiffness-tunable materials in the wheel allowed for timely changes in the grounding area to improve friction.These flexible materials with manageable mechanical properties have wide applicability in fields including bionics,robotics,and sensing.Our findings provide a new approach to designing and developing flexible materials with improved stiffness and controllability.
基金Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.LQ24E030001)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.22305221)+2 种基金China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant No.2022M712299)the Research Foundation of Talented Scholars of Zhejiang A&F University(Grant No.2020FR067)Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province.
文摘The oriented actuation of biological muscles that relies on the contraction and relaxation of sarcomeres in myofibrils is the foundation of animal movement.Dielectric elastomers(DEs),which are deemed as a kind of promising artificial muscles,can effectively transfer electric energy to mechanical energy within milliseconds under a stimulation of external electric field.Herein,the state-of-art in bioinspired oriented electroactuation of dielectric elastomer actuators(DEAs)is reviewed.The ori-ented electroactuation of DEAs shows directional movement with larger stroke,directional output,and higher energy trans-formation efficiency.In general,most of the DEs are mechanically isotropic with uniform expansion deformation,yet in practical applications they usually utilize deformation in limited direction,leading to energy waste in other directions.Thus,we have principally reviewed the efforts from physical engineering mainly based upon mechanically isotropic DEs to material preparation for mechanically anisotropic DEs,aimed at achieving oriented electroactuation of DEAs.Meanwhile,the typical bionic applications of DEAs with oriented electroactuation are introduced,the main challenges are summarized,and some perspectives for promoting this area are also proposed.We firmly believe that the development of DEAs with oriented elec-troactuation can significantly impact the fields of artificial muscles for flexible actuators and soft robotics.
基金support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFB3805803)National Natural Science Foundation of China(52103063)+2 种基金Hubei Natural Science Foundation Project(2023AFB728)Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Department Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Project(2024TSGC0657)Open Project of the Key Laboratory of Textile Fibers and Products,Ministry of Education(Fzxw2024012).
文摘Flexible actuators have significant potential in intelligent micromachines,artificial muscle,and soft robotics.However,achieving actuators with high actuation performance and feedback sensitivity remains challenging.Inspired by the dual“command-execution-feedback”of the mimic octopus,a fiber actuator with high stroke and visual-electronic dual feedback is designed by introducing an ionic liquid conductive network and a visual component of spiropyrane.By constructing a unique interchain slipping structure inside the liquid crystal elastomer(LCE),the nematic to isotropic transition temperature and maximum stroke temperature dropped to 24.29℃and 62.3℃,with decreases of 73.51%and 39.28%,respectively.Besides,the actuation stroke increases to 43.41%with an improvement of 77.11%,and the feedback sensitivity reaches to 69.17,along with a high work capacity of 189.12 kJ/m3.These provide a promising strategy for next-generation flexible actuators capable of high work capacity,large stroke,and real-time feedback.
基金funding support(Project No.G-YWA2,1-YXAK,and 1-WZ1Y)of this work.
文摘Smart wearables equipped with integrated flexible actuators possess the ability to autonomously respond and adapt to changes in the environment.Fibrous textiles have been recognised as promising platforms for integrating flexible actuators and wearables owing to their superior body compliance,lightweight nature,and programmable architectures.Various studies related to textile actuators in smart wearables have been recently reported.However,the review focusing on the advanced design of these textile actuator technologies for smart wearables is lacking.Herein,a timely and thorough review of the progress achieved in this field over the past five years is presented.This review focuses on the advanced design concepts for textile actuators in smart wearables,covering functional materials,innovative architecture configurations,external stimuli,and their applications in smart wearables.The primary aspects focus on actuating materials,formation techniques of textile architecture,actuating behaviour and performance metrics of textile actuators,various applications in smart wearables,and the design challenges for next-generation smart wearables.Ultimately,conclusive perspectives are highlighted.
基金support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52205424)the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province for Distinguished Young Scholars of China(Grant No.LR22E050002)+1 种基金the“Pioneer”and“Leading Goose”R&D Program of Zhejiang Province of China(Grant No.2023C01170)the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.LY23A020001).
文摘Manufacturing flexible magnetic-driven actuators with complex structures and magnetic arrangements to achieve diverse functionalities is becoming a popular trend.Among various manufacturing technologies,magnetic-assisted digital light processing(DLP)stands out because it enables precise manufacturing of macro-scale structures and micro-scale distributions with the assistance of an external magnetic field.Current research on manufacturing magnetic flexible actuators mostly employs single materials,which limits the magnetic driving performance to some extent.Based on these characterizations,we propose a multi-material magnetic field-assisted DLP technology to produce flexible actuators with an accuracy of 200μm.The flexible actuators are printed using two materials with different mechanical and magnetic properties.Considering the interface connectivity of multi-material printing,the effect of interfaces on mechanical properties is also explored.Experimental results indicate good chemical affinity between the two materials we selected.The overlap or connection length of the interface moderately improves the tensile strength of multi-material structures.In addition,we investigate the influence of the volume fraction of the magnetic part on deformation.Simulation and experimental results indicate that increasing the volume ratio(20%to 50%)of the magnetic structure can enhance the responsiveness of the actuator(more than 50%).Finally,we successfully manufacture two multi-material flexible actuators with specific magnetic arrangements:a multi-legged crawling robot and a flexible gripper capable of crawling and grasping actions.These results confirm that this method will pave the way for further research on the precise fabrication of magnetic flexible actuators with diverse functionalities.
