Elastic Inflatable Actuators for Soft Robotic Applications

The 20th century's robotic systems have been made from stiff materials, and much of the developments have pursued ever more accurate and dynamic robots, which thrive in industrial automation, and will probably continue to do so for decades to come. However, the 21st century's robotic legacy may very well become that of soft robots. This emerging domain is characterized by continuous soft structures that simultaneously fulfill the role of robotic link and actuator, where prime focus is on design and fabrication of robotic hardware instead of software control. These robots are anticipated to take a prominent role in delicate tasks where classic robots fail, such as in minimally invasive surgery, active prosthetics, and automation tasks involving delicate irregular objects. Central to the development of these robots is the fabrication of soft actuators. This article reviews a particularly attractive type of soft actuators that are driven by pressurized fluids. These actuators have recently gained traction on the one hand due to the technology push from better simulation tools and new manufacturing technologies, and on the other hand by a market pull from applications. This paper provides an overview of the different advanced soft actuator configurations, their design, fabrication, and applications.     

Slit Tubes for Semisoft Pneumatic Actuators

This article describes a new principle for designing soft or ‘semisoft’ pneumatic actuators: SLiT (for SLit‐in‐Tube) actuators. Inflating an elastomeric balloon, when enclosed by an external shell (a material with higher Young's modulus) containing slits of different directions and lengths, produces a variety of motions, including bending, twisting, contraction, and elongation. The requisite pressure for actuation depends on the length of the slits, and this dependence allows sequential actuation by controlling the applied pressure. Different actuators can also be controlled using external “sliders” that act as reprogrammable “on‐off” switches. A pneumatic arm and a walker constructed from SLiT actuators demonstrate their ease of fabrication and the range of motions they can achieve.     

Hardware Sequencing of Inflatable Nonlinear Actuators for Autonomous Soft Robots

Soft robots are an interesting alternative for classic rigid robots in applications requiring interaction with organisms or delicate objects. Elastic in?atable actuators are one of the preferred actuation mechanisms for soft robots since they are intrinsically safe and soft. However, these pneumatic actuators each require a dedicated pressure supply and valve to drive and control their actuation sequence. Because of the relatively large size of pressure supplies and valves compared to electrical leads and electronic controllers, tethering pneumatic soft robots with multiple degrees of freedom is bulky and unpractical. Here, a new approach is described to embed hardware intelligence in soft robots where multiple actuators are attached to the same pressure supply, and their actuation sequence is programmed by the interaction between nonlinear actuators and passive ?ow restrictions. How to model this hardware sequencing is discussed, and it is demonstrated on an 8‐degree‐of‐freedom walking robot where each limb comprises two actuators with a sequence embedded in their hardware. The robot is able to carry pay loads of 800 g in addition to its own weight and is able to walk at travel speeds of 3 body lengths per minute, without the need for complex on‐board valves or bulky tethers.     

Buckling Analysis of Plates Stiffened by Parallel Beams

In this paper a general solution for the elastic buckling analysis of plates stiffened by arbitrarily placed parallel beams of arbitrary doubly symmetric cross section subjected to an arbitrary inplane loading is presented. According to the proposed model, the stiffening beams are isolated from the plate by sections in the lower outer surface of the plate, taking into account the arising tractions in all directions at the fictitious interfaces. These tractions are integrated with respect to each half of the interface width resulting two interface lines, along which the loading of the beams as well as the additional loading of the plate is defined. The unknown distribution of the aforementioned integrated tractions is established by applying continuity conditions in all directions at the two interface lines, while the analysis of both the plate and the beams is accomplished on their deformed shape. The method of analysis is based on the capability to establish the elastic and the corresponding geometric stiffness matrices of the stiffened plate with respect to a set of nodal points. Thus, the original eigenvalue problem for the differential equation of buckling is converted into a typical linear eigenvalue problem, from which the buckling loads are established numerically. For the calculation of the elastic and geometric stiffness matrices six boundary value problems are formulated and solved using the Analog Equation Method (AEM), a BEM-based method. Numerical examples with practical interest are presented. The accuracy of the results of the proposed model compared with those obtained from a 3-D FEM solution is remarkable.     

含单分层损伤复合材料层合梁的动力屈曲研究

采用有限差分（FDM）方法求解了含初始缺陷和单个分层损伤复合材料层合梁的轴向刚性质量块撞击的脉冲动力屈曲问题。基于Hamilton原理导出了考虑所有惯性影响以及一阶横向剪切变形（FSDT）影响时单个分层损伤复合材料梁的非线性动力屈曲控制方程；采用B—R准则判断梁动力屈曲时刻，同时确定刚性质量块的临界冲击速度。重点研究脱层、冲击速度、初始几何缺陷等因素对复合材料层合梁脉冲动力屈曲的影响。     

Flexural-Torsional Buckling and Vibration Analysis of Composite Beams

In this paper the general flexural-torsional buckling and vibration problems of composite Euler-Bernoulli beams of arbitrarily shaped cross section are solved using a boundary element method. The general character of the proposed method is verified from the formulation of all basic equations with respect to an arbitrary coordinate system, which is not restricted to the principal one. The composite beam consists of materials in contact each of which can surround a finite number of inclusions. It is subjected to a compressive centrally applied load together with arbitrarily transverse and/or torsional distributed or concentrated loading, while its edges are restrained by the most general linear boundary conditions. The resulting problems are (i) the flexural-torsional buckling problem, which is described by three coupled ordinary differential equations and (ii) the flexural-torsional vibration problem, which is described by three coupled partial differential equations. Both problems are solved employing a boundary integral equation approach. Besides the effectiveness and accuracy of the developed method, a significant advantage is that the method can treat composite beams of both thin and thick walled cross sections taking into account the warping along the thickness of the walls. The proposed method overcomes the shortcoming of possible thin tube theory (TTT) solution, which its utilization has been proven to be prohibitive even in thin walled homogeneous sections. Example problems of composite beams are analysed, subjected to compressive or vibratory loading, to illustrate the method and demonstrate its efficiency and wherever possible its accuracy. Moreover, useful conclusions are drawn from the buckling and dynamic response of the beam.     

脉冲载荷下裂纹损伤梁的动力屈曲

研究含初始缺陷裂纹梁一端固定，另一端被一质量块沿轴向以某一速度进行碰撞而导致的动力屈出问题。根据Hamilton原理导出考虑初始缺陷及横向剪切变形时裂纹梁的动力屈曲控制方程，并应用线弹簧理论将裂纹引入到屈曲控制方程中，用有限差分法对控制方程进行求解，基于B-R动力屈曲判断准则，确定临界冲击速度。比较了裂纹梁与无裂纹梁的临界冲击速度和屈曲模态，针对裂纹梁主要考察了不同的冲击块质量、初挠度形状等因素对屈曲模态的影响。     

Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Controllable Stiffness by Bio-Inspired Lattice Chambers and Fused Deposition Modeling 3D Printing

This article shows how changing 3D printing parameters and using bio-inspired lattice chambers can engineer soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) with different behaviors in terms of controlling tip deflection and tip force using the same input air pressure. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is employed to 3D print soft pneumatic actuators using varioShore thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) materials with a foaming agent. The effects of material flow and nozzle temperature parameters on the material properties and stiffness are investigated. Auxetic, columns, face-centered cubic, honeycomb, isotruss, oct vertex centroid, and square honeycomb lattices are designed to study actuators’ behaviors under the same input pressure. Finite-element simulations based on the nonlinear hyper-elastic constitutive model are carried out to precisely predict the behavior, deformation, and tip force of the actuators. A closed-loop pneumatic system and sensors are developed to control the actuators. Results show that lattice designs can control the bending angle and generated force of actuators. Also, the lattices increase the ultimate strength by controlling the contact area inside the chambers. They demonstrate variable stiffness behaviors and deflections under the same pressure between 100 and 500 kPa. The proposed actuators could be instrumental in designing wearable hand rehabilitative devices that assist customized finger and wrist flexion-extension.     

复合载荷作用变刚度复合材料回转壳屈曲优化

通过曲线纤维轨迹设计,变刚度复合材料回转壳将拥有比常刚度（直线纤维）回转壳更好的抗屈曲稳定性,为此,研究了复合载荷作用下曲线纤维铺层形式和几何参数对变刚度复合材料回转壳屈曲性能的影响规律。首先根据回转壳横截面圆弧变化改进曲线纤维角度线性描述方法,建立了变刚度复合材料回转壳的参数化有限元模型;其次,结合序列二次响应面方法和回转壳屈曲优化模型,搭建了复合材料回转壳曲线纤维轨迹优化的设计流程;最后,以准各向同性铺层复合材料回转壳为比较基准,对弯扭载荷作用变刚度圆柱壳和轴压、弯矩和扭矩分别作用变刚度椭圆柱壳在不同铺层方式、不同几何参数下的屈曲性能进行了优化比较。结果表明:弯扭载荷作用下,变刚度圆柱壳的屈曲性能随弯矩载荷占比增加而提高,且均好于准各向同性圆柱壳,但扭矩载荷占优时,优化常刚度圆柱壳的屈曲性能更具有优势;不同载荷作用下,具有较小截面方向比的变刚度椭圆柱壳屈曲性能要明显好于对应的准各向同性椭圆柱壳,且横截面越接近圆形,曲线纤维对椭圆柱壳屈曲性能的改善越弱。      

Buckling Analysis of Composite Sandwich Plates with Flexible Core Using Improved High-Order Theory

A new improved high-order theory is presented for global and local buckling analysis of sandwich plates with soft orthotropic core. Continuity conditions for transverse shear stresses at the interfaces as well as the conditions of zero transverse shear stresses on the upper and lower surfaces of plate are satisfied. Overall buckling loads, as well as wrinkling loads, are obtained for various sandwich plates. Effect of geometrical parameters and material properties of face sheets and core are studied on the overall buckling and face wrinkling of sandwich plates.