Folding Growth Unit for Soft Robots in Narrow Curved Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vine robots struggle to navigate through narrow spaces and curved paths due to the rigid sensor mount, which limits their ability to explore various environments and control the sensor position effectively.
Innovation Solution
A growth-type soft robot with a foldable growth unit and a data collecting unit that includes a cable and a sensing module, where the inner periphery of the growth unit is folded to form a folded region, allowing for independent control of the sensor position and easy mounting of the data collecting unit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid mount is used to maintain the sensor at the end of the vine robot, then the sensor position is stable, but the robot cannot pass through narrow spaces and the mount interacts with the external environment, reducing the inherent advantages of the vine robot
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the rigid mount with a flexible cable that can bend and deform, allowing the sensor to be positioned at the end of the vine robot without creating a rigid structure. The flexible cable enables the robot to pass through narrow spaces while maintaining sensor stability through the cable's tension and routing constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a dynamic cable management system where the cable length and routing can be adjusted. The cable is routed through guides and constrained by the robot's structure, allowing dynamic control of sensor position while maintaining flexibility for navigating complex environments.
2Ease of manufacture
If the sensor is simply inserted in the center of the vine robot, then the mounting is simple, but the distance over which the sensor moves forward increases to doubling of the growth length, making it physically impossible to control sensor position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cable as an intermediary element between the sensor and the robot body. The cable acts as a mediator that transmits forces and constraints, allowing independent control of sensor position. By routing the cable through guides and constraining it at various points, the system can control sensor position without directly attaching it to the robot structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the sensor positioning system into separate functional elements: the sensor itself, the cable, cable guides, and constraint points. This segmentation allows independent control of each element, enabling precise sensor positioning while maintaining the simplicity of cable-based mounting.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the vine robot is designed with a wound vine structure, then three-dimensional operation is enabled, but the cable of the sensor is inevitably wound together with the vine, preventing control of sensor position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates the vine winding function from the cable routing function. The vine can wind around the feeding drum for three-dimensional movement, while the cable is routed separately through guides and constraints that prevent it from being wound with the vine. This segmentation allows independent control of vine motion and sensor position.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces cable guides and constraint structures as intermediary elements that decouple the cable from the vine winding motion. These intermediaries allow the vine to wind freely for three-dimensional operation while the cable maintains a separate path that can be controlled independently.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The soft robot can maintain its inherent advantages of three-dimensional operation while allowing for easy mounting and independent control of the data collecting unit, enabling it to navigate through narrow spaces and curved paths effectively.
Implementation Method 1
a length of the growth unit is adjusted by pressure of air supplied to the front end space
Data Source
AI summary
A growth-type soft robot includes a housing including an external body including an internal accommodation space and one side open and a fixing portion formed on a periphery of an open region of the external body, a growth unit including an outer periphery having one end connected to the fixing portion, an inner periphery spaced apart from an inner side of the outer periphery and extending to the accommodation space, and a bent portion connecting the other end of the outer periphery to one end of the inner periphery to form a front end space, and a data collecting unit including a cable extending along a central portion surrounded by the inner periphery and a sensing module acquiring external information, wherein the other end of the inner periphery forms a folded region, and a length of the growth unit is adjustable by air supplied to the front end space.