97 results about "Soft actuator" patented technology

A soft robotic device with one or more sensors is described. The sensor may be embedded in the soft body of the soft robotic device, attached to the soft body of the soft robotic device, or otherwise linked to the soft body of the soft robotic device.

A biomimetic actuation device includes a flexible substrate, conformable for disposition about an object, defining an apex and a base, bearing at least one soft actuator configured to change state from a first state to a second state upon introduction of a pressurized fluid to an internal volume of the at least one soft actuator.

A hub assembly for coupling different grasper assemblies including a soft actuator in various configurations to a mechanical robotic components are described. Further described are soft actuators having various reinforcement. Further described are and soft actuators having electroadhesive pads for improved grip, and / or embedded electromagnets for interacting with complementary surfaces on the object being gripped. Still further described are soft actuators having reinforcement mechanisms for reducing or eliminating bowing in a strain limiting layer, or for reinforcing accordion troughs in the soft actuator body.

The invention discloses a sensitive soft actuator and an application thereof, belongs to the field of soft robots and aims at solving the problem of a low response speed of an existing soft actuator.The sensitive soft actuator comprises a flexible alloy layer, a driving component and an elastic limiting layer. The flexible alloy layer is in the shape of a thin sheet and has two initial forms including a linear form and a curly form. The driving component comprises a gas delivery pipe and a driving air bag, the gas delivery pipe is used for being connected with a gas source, and the gas delivery pipe is connected with the driving air bag and can transmit gas to the driving air bag and deflate the driving air bag. The soft actuator has the advantage of being high in response speed, and themaximum response rate reaches 32.7cm / s. In addition, based on the sensitive soft actuator, the inventor realizes sensitive control of a bionic hand and preparation of mechanical skin, a spiral gripperand a deformable crawling robot through researches of various motion forms. The sensitive soft actuator is ingenious in conception, reasonable in design and simple in structure.

The invention discloses a novel soft mechanical hand capable of realizing vertical plane grabbing, and aims to provide the novel soft mechanical hand capable of realizing vertical plane grabbing and improving the grabbing stability, a soft body actuator which can adapt to the use requirements of irregular articles and a soft mechanical hand composed of the soft body actuator. The soft mechanical hand comprises a clamp and at least two soft body actuators symmetrically installed on the clamp, the soft actuator comprises a restraint layer and a base body positioned on one side of the restraint layer, wherein the base body comprises a pneumatic bending module and a grabbing module, one end of the pneumatic bending module is fixedly connected with the clamp, the tail end of the grabbing moduleis a free end, the grabbing module is of an air mesh type structure, and the grabbing module is driven by the pneumatic bending module to enable the grabbing module to realize the grabbing action ofthe vertical plane. The soft mechanical hand provided can be used for grabbing objects in a vertical plane, the contact area between the grabbing module and the grabbing object is large, the grabbingstability is high, and the mechanical hand can adapt to the shape of an object and is beneficial to grabbing of irregular objects.

The invention belongs to the technical field of soft robots and relates to a similar round stepped type soft hand paw. The soft hand paw comprises soft actuators, a base seat and an air source distributor, wherein the base seat comprises a mechanical arm connection part, a hand paw base body, a hand paw support connection part and finger buckling plates, the soft actuators adopt an integrated typeparabolic design, the deformation principle is the pneumatic network principle, and the stress concentration problem and the overhead phenomenon universally existing in the soft actuators can be effectively solved. According to the similar round stepped type soft hand paw, by means of pressure intensity applying on the inner portions of the soft actuators, bending deformation of the soft actuators can be realized; and by means of changing of the internal pressure intensity magnitude of the soft actuators, envelope grabbing of an object to be grabbed can be realized. The similar round steppedtype soft hand paw can adapt to unstructured working environments more comprehensively and effectively and can be quite well applied in the field of flexible grabbing.

With applications such as soft robotics being severely hindered by the lack of strong soft actuators, the invention provides a new soft-actuator material—Electrically Actuated Hydraulic Solid (EAHS) material—with a stress-density that outperforms any known electrically-actuatable material. One type of actuator is fabricated by making a closed cell that acts as highly paralyzed version of a standard paraffin actuator. Each cell exhibits microscopic expansion, which is summed to produce macroscopic motion. The closed cellular nature of the material allows the system to be cut and punctured and still operate. It can be produced in a lab or industrial scale, and can be formed using molding, 3D printing or cutting.

The invention discloses a dual-purpose bionic soft actuator. The problem that an existing soft robot end actuator is single in function is solved. The dual-purpose bionic soft actuator comprises a first driving module and a second driving module, wherein the first driving module comprises pneumatic elements, a first variable stiffness unit and a first rack; the two pneumatic elements are symmetrically bonded to the two sides of the first variable stiffness unit and jointly fixed to the first rack; the second driving module comprises first air cylinders, a second rack, a third rack, a second variable stiffness unit, a second air cylinder, a telescopic paper folding structure, a fourth rack and a fifth rack; the second rack is hinged with the first rack; the two first air cylinders are hinged to the first rack and the second rack on the same side respectively; the two second variable stiffness units are installed between the first air cylinders and the second rack; the two third racks are symmetrically distributed on the left side and the right side of the second rack; the fourth rack is fixed to the outer sides of the third rack through the second air cylinder; and the telescopic paper folding structure is fixed between the third rack and the fourth rack.

A soft robotic device with a variety of sensors and / or imaging areas is described. The sensor and / or imaging area may be embedded in the soft body or the strain limiting layer of the soft robotic device, attached to the soft body or the strain limiting layer of the soft robotic device, or otherwise linked to the soft body or the strain limiting layer of the soft robotic device.

A soft robotic ankle-foot orthosis exosuit includes a brace configured to be worn on a user's foot, a first soft actuator, a second soft actuator, and a pneumatic system. The first soft actuator is coupled to the brace so that it is configured to be positioned proximate a top of the user's foot. The second soft actuator is also coupled to the brace and is configured to be positioned proximate a side of the user's foot. The pneumatic system is configured to change an internal pressure of the first soft actuator and the second soft actuator.

The invention discloses a soft finger rehabilitation robot system used for symmetric rehabilitation. The system comprises a soft exoskeleton glove, a data acquisition module, a control module, a driving module, a monitoring module and a soft actuator; the data acquisition module is connected to the control module; the driving module is attached to the soft exoskeleton glove, and the other end of the driving module is connected to the control module. The monitoring module is connected to the soft actuator. In addition to the adoption of a pneumatic driving mode and a wired transmission mode, aSmith predictor is also used so that not only can the burden on a patient be reduced, but also the transmission rate of the system is effectively increased, the transmission accuracy of the system iseffectively improved, the reaction speed of a disabled hand is increased, and thus a significant meaning on improving the rehabilitation effect on hand functions is achieved.

The present invention relates to a soft actuator moving linearly against external stimuli whose expansion and contraction can be actively controlled, suggesting that the actuator of the invention overcomes the problems of the conventional soft actuators, The soft actuator of the present invention can be repetitively driven quickly and accurately by controlling heating and cooling by using thermoelectric effect and, the soft actuator of the present invention can realize bending, tensioning, compression, and rotational driving of a tubular device containing a driver.

The invention discloses a soft actuator simulating a frog tongue and an application of the soft actuator, and aims to solve the problems that existing soft robots are generally complex in control flow, difficult in structural design and high in cost. The soft actuator comprises an inflation pipe, a supporting pipe, a flexible film pipe body and a metal wire; the flexible film pipe body is preparedfrom a film; and a connecting edge is arranged on the flexible film pipe body. The soft actuator simulates the predation action of a frog, by the aid of the stretching and curling characteristics ofthe metal wire, through control on the change of pressure, corresponding motions of the actuator are realized. Furthermore, on the basis of the structural design of a sticky object, the actuator can realize the action of sticking objects. On the basis, the actuator is further used for realizing the novel motion manners of bionic frog jumping and swimming in water. The soft actuator has the advantages of simplicity in control, low manufacturing cost, high telescopic efficiency and the like, and a new way is provided for development of future soft robots.

The invention belongs to the field of related technologies of wrist rehabilitation soft robots, and discloses a sectional type multi-degree-of-freedom soft actuator for human wrist rehabilitation training, which comprises a left single cavity and a right single cavity which are connected to each other, and the left single cavity and the right single cavity are in mirror symmetry; the left single cavity comprises an air inlet fixed end, a bent section, a swing section, a bent section strain limiting layer and a swing section strain limiting layer; the fixed end is connected to the bent section,and the fixed end and the bent section are arranged on the bent section strain limiting layer; the bending section is basically rectangular, a plurality of first grids arranged at intervals are formed on the side, away from the bending section strain limiting layer, of the bending section, and the multiple first grids are arranged at intervals in the length direction of the bending section; the swing section is arranged on the swing section strain limiting layer, a plurality of second grids are formed on the side, away from the swing section strain limiting layer, of the swing section, and the second grids are arranged at intervals in the length direction of the swing section. According to the invention, multi-degree-of-freedom motion can be realized, the cost is low, and the applicability is high.

The invention provides a bending and twisting combined soft actuator comprising a bending and twisting structure, a top connecting plate, a bottom connecting plate, external air pipes, a twisting inner cavity and at least two bending inner cavities. The bending and twisting structure comprises a bending body and at least two bending units extending outwards from the surface of a twisting unit; thetop connecting plate is arranged at one end of the bending and twisting structure; the bottom connecting plate is arranged at the other end of the bending and twisting structure; the external air pipes are arranged on the bottom connecting plate; the twisting inner cavity is formed in the twisting unit, one end of the twisting inner cavity is closed through the top connecting plate, and the otherend of the twisting inner cavity is communicated with the corresponding external air pipe; and the at least two bending inner cavities are formed in the two bending units respectively, one end of each bending inner cavity is closed through the top connecting plate, and the other end of each bending inner cavity is communicated with the corresponding external air pipe. According to the bending andtwisting combined soft actuator, the bending and twisting movement effects can be simultaneously realized under the same module, the redundancy of a robot system is reduced, the structure is simple,integrated manufacture can be achieved, and the control difficulty of the robot system is simplified.

The invention discloses a multistage variable-rigidity pneumatic soft actuator which comprises a first soft rack, air bags, a contact type spiral elastic variable-rigidity element, air pressure type tubular variable-rigidity elements and a contact type tooth variable-rigidity module. U-shaped grooves are formed in the top of the first soft rack, and the multiple independently-driven air bags are sequentially fixed in the corresponding U-shaped grooves. A first cavity body, a second cavity body and a third cavity body are formed in the first soft rack. The second cavity body is located in the middle and is in sealed connection with the front end of the first soft rack through a first end cover. The third cavity body is located on the periphery of the second cavity body and communicated withthe atmosphere outside the first soft rack through a dustproof ventilation plug. The first cavity body is located on the periphery of the third cavity body and is in sealed connection with the rear end of the first soft rack through a second end cover. The contact type spiral elastic variable-rigidity element is placed in the first cavity body; a plurality of air pressure type tubular variable-rigidity elements are uniformly arranged in the second cavity body; and the contact type tooth varaibale-rigidity module is fixed to the bottom of the first soft rack.

The invention discloses a liquid metal-polymer composite soft actuator and a preparation method thereof. Liquid metal nano liquid drops are coated with polymer nano cellulose to prepare a binary dispersion system; for further improving the stability and response performance of the binary system, a photo-thermal agent is introduced to construct a ternary steady-state dispersion system, namely a liquid metal-based functional coating; a liquid metal-based self-supporting intelligent thin film material is prepared by spontaneously inducing sintering and combining a density gradient relation without the help of external intervention; and meanwhile, the liquid metal-based functional coating can selectively coat different stimuli-responsive high-molecular polymer substrates, and an intelligent soft actuator with multiple stimuli-responsiveness can be developed. The actuator and the method not only provide principle support for solving the stability problem of the liquid metal and endowing the liquid metal with multifunctional application, but also provide scientific basis and theoretical support for expanding the application of the liquid metal in the fields of artificial muscles, soft robots, microcircuits, sensing, biomedical treatment, wearable equipment and the like.

The invention discloses a multi-degree-of-freedom pneumatic software manipulator with an accurate positioning function. The multi-degree-of-freedom pneumatic software manipulator with the accurate positioning function comprises a pneumatic guide rail, pneumatic slide blocks, detection units and control units, wherein the pneumatic guide rail comprises a plurality of pneumatic guide rail bodies evenly distributed in the same circumference, and one ends of the pneumatic guide rail bodies are connected with a pneumatic device; the pneumatic slide blocks comprise soft actuators and connecting blocks, the soft actuators are slidably connected to the pneumatic guide rail bodies and comprise soft actuator bodies, adaptive elements, variable stiffness elements and bending elements; the detection units are mounted on the pneumatic slide blocks and are used for detecting the air pressure, moving distance and external environment of the pneumatic slide blocks; and the control units are connectedwith the detection units and the pneumatic slide blocks. The multi-degree-of-freedom pneumatic software manipulator with the accurate positioning function can increase the contact area between the soft actuator bodies and a caught object, the stability of grabbing is improved, the stiffness and bending degree of the soft actuator bodies are further improved, and grasping some hard and heavy objects is facilitated.

The present invention relates to a soft actuator moving linearly against external stimuli whose expansion and contraction can be actively controlled, suggesting that the actuator of the invention overcomes the problems of the conventional soft actuators, The soft actuator of the present invention can be repetitively driven quickly and accurately by controlling heating and cooling by using thermoelectric effect and, the soft actuator of the present invention can realize bending, tensioning, compression, and rotational driving of a tubular device containing a driver.

Pressure modulating soft actuator array devices and related systems and methods. One example of the present systems comprises: a device having a body that defines a plurality of cavities; a pressure source configured to be in fluid communication with the plurality of cavities; a plurality of sensors configured to capture data indicative of pressure within the plurality of cavities; and one or more controllers configured to actuate the pressure source to move fluid toward and / or away from one or more of the plurality of cavities in response to data captured by the plurality of sensors; wherein the device is configured to be disposed between a user and a surface on which the user is seated upon.

The present invention relates to a soft actuator moving linearly against external stimuli whose expansion and contraction can be actively controlled, suggesting that the actuator of the invention overcomes the problems of the conventional soft actuators, The soft actuator of the present invention can be repetitively driven quickly and accurately by controlling heating and cooling by using thermoelectric effect and, the soft actuator of the present invention can realize bending, tensioning, compression, and rotational driving of a tubular device containing a driver.

The present invention relates to an actuator including: a first ionic polymer layer disposed on underside of a first electrode layer; a second ionic polymer layer disposed on top of a second electrode layer; and a porous conducting interlayer disposed between the first ionic polymer layer and the second ionic polymer layer.

The invention provides a soft robot and a manufacturing method thereof. The soft robot includes a robot frame, a plurality of traveling parts and control air pipes, wherein the robot frame includes aplurality of mounting interfaces for mounting the traveling parts; the traveling parts comprise at least two soft actuators and connecting heads, and the connecting heads are connected between every two adjacent soft actuators; and the control air pipes are connected with the soft actuators, control the soft actuators to bend and deform upwards or downwards relative to the horizontal plane, and / ordrive the soft actuators to bend and deform forwards or backwards relative to the vertical plane. The soft robot is better in use effect.

The invention discloses a mechanical modeling method for a fold-type soft actuator (especially a fold-type soft finger). The method comprises the following steps: a model 1 is a relationship between input pressure and a finger bending angle; and a model 2 is the relationship between the input pressure and the output force at the front end of a finger at a given bending angle. The fold-type soft actuator is similar to a section diagram structure shown in the figure 1 and is provided with a discrete air cavity structure. The fold-type soft actuator comprises an upper finger layer (1), a lower finger layer (2) and a connector (3). The research method disclosed by the invention is used for researching the relationship between the input pressure and the bending angle of the soft actuator for aiming at the soft actuator device and the relationship between the input pressure and the output force at the tail end, the modeling is conducted, and the relationship between the input pressure and the output force at the tail end is progressive. For the model 1, a Neo-Hookean hyperelastic model is adopted to describe the response characteristics of a silica gel elastomer, the relation between driving gas pressure P and bending angle alpha obtained through a mathematical method is shown in the specification, and the relation among the input pressure, the bending angle and the output force is shown in the specification.

The invention discloses a corrugated pipe-shaped soft actuator and a hand rehabilitation training device. The corrugated pipe-shaped soft actuator comprises a hollow corrugated pipe section; a first connector pipe section connected with one end of the hollow corrugated pipe section; a second connector pipe section connected with the other end of the hollow corrugated pipe section; and a first installation support arranged on the outer wall of the first connector pipe section and the outer wall of the second connector pipe section so that the corrugated pipe type soft actuator can be installed on an installation base face. The wave height of the hollow corrugated pipe section has the maximum value and the minimum value in the circumferential direction, the maximum value is larger than the minimum value, and the axial section where the maximum value of the wave height of the hollow corrugated pipe section is located is perpendicular to the back face of the finger portion of the rehabilitation glove. As a driving unit, the corrugated-pipe-shaped soft actuator is not prone to lateral bending, and the using effect and the wearing comfort can be effectively improved.

The invention provides a pneumatic soft actuator which is of a spiral structure. A base body is made of a super-elastic material, an inflation air cavity is formed in the base body, input air pressure servers as driving force, and unfolding movement is achieved; the higher the air pressure is, the smaller the curvature is, and after the curvature is decreased to zero, negative curvature unfolding movement can be achieved; a strain limiting layer adheres to the outer side of the base body and is used for limiting axial stretching movement and enhancing unfolding movement; and a sealing blocking head at the tail end of the base body is used for blocking the air cavity, and air leakage is prevented. According to the pneumatic soft actuator, the spiral structure is adopted, thus, two directions of positive curvature and negative curvature for unfolding movement can be achieved along with increasing of the input air pressure, and in addition, large-scale unfolding movement can be achieved under low input air pressure. The spiral pneumatic soft actuator has the good unfolding movement performance and multiple potential application fields, such as the medical field used for developing novel recovery gloves and the like.

The invention discloses a liquid crystal elastomer material based on liquid metal nano-droplets as well as a preparation method and application thereof. Liquid metal nano-droplets are introduced into a liquid crystal elastomer matrix material, sulfur in a molecular chain dynamically interacts with liquid metal, the liquid metal nano-droplets can be uniformly distributed in a liquid crystal elastomer, and the liquid crystal elastomer material (LM-LCE) based on the liquid metal nano-droplets is finally prepared by thermally initiating secondary crosslinking. The mechanical property, especially the fatigue resistance, of the composite liquid crystal elastomer material is greatly improved, and the soft actuator material based on the liquid crystal elastomer and other long-term industrial application can be effectively promoted.

The invention discloses a vacuum-driven actuator based on a scissor mechanism, and belongs to the technical field of vacuum-driven actuators. The scissor mechanism in a traditional mechanism is introduced into the field of soft actuators, the two forms of a straight line and a curve are achieved, adjustment can be conducted according to different working environments, and thus the vacuum-driven actuator adapts to the various working environments. The actuator comprises an outer thin film and a scissor mechanism framework, wherein the outer thin film wraps the outer portion of the scissor mechanism framework and is fixedly connected with the scissor mechanism framework, and a pneumatic connector is arranged on the outer thin film. The vacuum-driven actuator has high stability, shrinkage andsafety.

The invention discloses a soft endoscope. The soft endoscope comprises an endoscope insertion part and a soft actuator which are connected in sequence; the soft actuator comprises a body part and a head part which are connected in sequence; a cavity is formed in the soft actuator; the cavity penetrates through the soft actuator along a central shaft of the soft actuator; a camera, a light source and an optical fiber force sensor are arranged in the cavity of the head part; an air cavity which is circumferentially distributed in the axis direction of the cavity is formed in the body part; an air channel pipeline is arranged in the epidermis of the endoscope insertion part and is communicated with the air cavity, and the bending motion of the soft body actuator is adjusted through the air pressure input into the air cavity by the air channel pipeline in the endoscope insertion part, so that the soft actuator can move more flexibly in the body and has more abundant detection postures; in addition, an optical fiber force sensor is further arranged, palpation is carried out on a suspected focus area, in-vivo image information is collected, meanwhile, contact force data is further collected, and detection can be rapidly, safely and accurately completed.