99 results about "Soft Robotic" patented technology

A soft robotic instrument that is capable of changing its form factor (e.g., expanding and contracting) during use to facilitate minimally invasive surgery. The instrument may be formed wholly or partly of an elastomeric, electrically insulating material for mitigating the risk of injuring tissue and for mitigating the risk of electrical arcing during electrosurgery.

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.

The present invention relates to a new pneumatic-actuated multifunctional doming actuator. The doming actuator can be used as a doming actuator, which can maintain machine/robotic operation on vertical surfaces without falling. The doming actuators exhibit rapid switchable adhesion/deadhesion on target surfaces upon pressurizing/depressurizing the embedded spiral pneumatic channels. The present invention also relates to novel load-carrying and climbing soft robots using the doming actuators. The soft robots are operable on a wide range of horizontal and vertical surfaces including dry, wet, slippery, smooth, and semi-smooth surfaces. In addition, the doming actuators can be used as a driving actuator for swimming soft robotics and as an actuator for soft grippers.

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.

A soft robotic actuator is disclosed. The actuator includes a first portion with a substantially constant profile and a second portion with a regularly varying profile, and bends in a pressure-dependent fashion as the internal pressure within the actuator is increased or decreased. The present invention addresses the needs described above by providing actuators that are configured to perform new fundamental motions through the inclusion of design elements which can be configured, through the manipulation of a relatively short list of parameters, to undergo specific pressure-actuated changes which can be designed using quantitative modeling techniques.

Exemplary embodiments provide enhancements for soft robotic actuators. In some embodiments, angular adjustment systems are provided for varying an angle between an actuator and the hub, or between two actuators. The angular adjustment system may also be used to vary a relative distance or spacing between actuators. According to further embodiments, rigidizing layers are provided for reinforcing one or more portions of an actuator at one or more locations of relatively high strain. According to further embodiments, force amplification structures are provided for increasing an amount of force applied by an actuator to a target. The force amplification structures may serve to shorten the length of the actuator that is subject to bending upon inflation. According to still further embodiments, gripping pads are provided for customizing an actuator's gripping profile to better conform to the surfaces of items to be gripped.

An actuator according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a driving body including a plurality of conductive grains, a chamber configured to confine the plurality of conductive grains, and two or more electrodes disposed on a surface of the chamber, and a controller configured to obtain, through the two or more electrodes, a change in an electric signal, in response to a load applied to the chamber, and to adjust the load applied to the chamber based on the change in the electric signal.

Methods, systems, and methods of manufacture for soft robotic actuators are described herein. In one aspect, a soft robotic actuator can include an elastomeric material defining a cavity; a volume of liquid metal (LM) positioned within the cavity; and an energy source coupled to the LM, where the energy source is adapted or configured to alter a temperature of the volume of LM, whereby altering the temperature of the volume of LM initiates an actuation of the elastomeric material.

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.

The invention discloses a photothermal stimulation intelligent response actuator film, a preparation method of the film and application of the film, and belongs to the technical field of polymer compounding. The photothermal stimulation intelligent response actuator film is composed of three layers of films which are sequentially arranged in a stacked mode from top to bottom, wherein the first layer is a carbon nanocomposite film layer of poly N-isopropylacrylamide, the second layer is a carbon nanomaterial film layer, and the third layer is a carbon nanocomposite film layer of poly (N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide). The invention further discloses the preparation method and application of the photothermal stimulation intelligent response actuator film. The photothermal stimulation intelligent response actuator film can generate large deformation in stages within a wider temperature range, such temperature stimulation response has reversibility, and therefore the photothermal stimulation intelligent response actuator film is particularly suitable for photo-thermal response actuators such as soft robots, drug conveyor, motors and artificial muscles.

The present invention relates to a biocompatible, digestible and edible material for use in soft edible robots. The present invention provides a pneumatic actuator for edible robotics, and a toy set including at least one pneumatic actuator and an inflating device. Further, the biocompatible, digestible and edible material can be used for making bubble gum products.

A robotic end effector and method for use thereof are provided. The robotic end effector can include a rigid base structure (230), a plurality of rigid proximal phalanges (210) connected to the rigid base structure (230), a plurality of rigid distal phalanges (200) connected to the proximal phalanges (210) respectively, and a plurality of bellows (250), wherein one end of a proximal phalange (210) is connected to one end of the base structure (230) by a bellows (250), wherein one end of a distal phalange (200) is connected to a proximal phalange (210) by a bellows (250), and wherein a portion of the base structure (230), each proximal phalange (210), and each distal phalange (200) are covered in silicone rubber. It can achieve a high output force to input pressure ratio, and cost efficiently.

The invention relates to a green reprocessing method of polymer hydrogel. According to the invention, the polymer material gel is driven by a chemical fuel to be converted into sol and then into gel, so that the gel is reprocessed, and a functional material is added in the reprocessing process, so that the gel is endowed with more functional effects. Switching between the sol state and the gel state enables the polymer hydrogel to be functionalized again, so that multi-functional polymer materials are generated, and the materials can be applied to the fields of flexible electronics, low-temperature-resistant strain sensors, magnetic actuators and soft robots. According to the reprocessing method of the present invention, covalently adaptive and supramolecular polymer networks are reconstructed repeatedly in a green manner.

The invention relates to a reconfigurable driver based on a self-healing elastomer and a preparation method of the reconfigurable driver. The reconfigurable driver is composed of a self-healing non-crosslinked PDOU film NPDOU and a crosslinked PDOU film CPDOU. According to the reconfigurable soft driver based on the intrinsic type self-healing polyurethane elastomer, the PDOU elastomers with different crosslinking degrees show different responsiveness to a solvent, and seamless healing can be achieved; and the assembled driver/robot can be reprogrammed through simple cutting and reassembling without any external stimulation so as to display various driving modes, and a simple, powerful and universal path is laid for constructing a soft robot with a complex structure.

Elastomer-based soft-robotic micro-tentacles capable of winding around and holding microscale objects and methods of fabricating same are provided. To realize the thin, highly deformable microtubes, a fabrication technique based on in situ thermal solidification of PDMS dip-coated around a cylindrical template and direct peeling of the cured structure is presented. This process is capable to asymmetrize the microtube's cross-sectional shape and enable the microtube to bend up to a single turn. To amplify the bending into a life-like, multi-turn spiraling motion, a semi-analytical model to shape-engineer the microtube and turn it into a micro-tentacle was produced. As a result, a hump is added to the microtube to enable the multi-turn spiraling motion.

The invention discloses a full-flexible fin driven by a magnetic field and a production method thereof. The full-flexible fin comprises a strip-shaped elastic polymer matrix and a plurality of magnetized magnetic active polymer matrixes embedded in the strip-shaped elastic polymer matrix. The plurality of magnetized magnetic active polymer matrixes are arranged on the strip-shaped elastic polymer matrix in parallel, and the distribution directions of adjacent magnetic domains are completely opposite; and the magnetic active polymer matrixes and the strip-shaped elastic polymer matrix are attached together through the intermolecular force of a material to form the full-flexible fin, and the full-flexible fin is put into an alternating excitation magnetic field to realize periodic flapping motion. The invention discloses a production method of the full-flexible fin. The full-flexible fin is simple, good in stability, high in movement efficiency, excellent in deformation performance, good in movement continuity due to full flexibility, capable of adapting to different complex environments, good in biocompatibility, capable of being applied to a power driving part of an underwater navigation robot and wide in application in the field of soft robots.

The invention discloses an inchworm type magnetic control soft robot for small pipeline detection and a use method. According to the inchworm type magnetic control soft robot for small pipeline detection, the structure and the motion principle of inchworms in the nature are imitated, structural optimization is conducted in a finite element simulation mode, transverse and longitudinal zigzag structures are determined, large bending deformation can be achieved, and the inchworm-type magnetic control soft robot is used in cooperation with a controllable magnetic field operation table. Various movement modes such as straight movement and bending movement around the x-axis and the z-axis can be achieved. A miniature camera and a miniature illuminating lamp are further arranged on the soft robot, and free movement and detection in a small dark space can be achieved. Meanwhile, a multi-material 3D printing technology is adopted, the whole robot is manufactured in a one-time printing mode, precision is accurate, and due to the full-soft structure, the inchworm type magnetic control soft robot can pass through narrow spaces such as narrow slits through flexible deformation.