Magnetically responsive soft materials are soft composites where magnetic fillers are embedded into soft polymeric matrices. These active materials have attracted extensive research and industrial ...interest due to their ability to realize fast and programmable shape changes through remote and untethered control under the application of magnetic fields. They would have many high-impact potential applications in soft robotics/devices, metamaterials, and biomedical devices. With a broad range of functional magnetic fillers, polymeric matrices, and advanced fabrication techniques, the material properties can be programmed for integrated functions, including programmable shape morphing, dynamic shape deformation-based locomotion, object manipulation and assembly, remote heat generation, as well as reconfigurable electronics. In this review, an overview of state-of-the-art developments and future perspectives in the multifunctional magnetically responsive soft materials is presented.
Soft robot review Lee, Chiwon; Kim, Myungjoon; Kim, Yoon Jae ...
International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems,
02/2017, Volume:
15, Issue:
1
Journal Article, Book Review
Soft robots are often inspired from biological systems which consist of soft materials or are actuated by electrically activated materials. There are several advantages of soft robots compared to the ...conventional robots; safe human-machine interaction, adaptability to wearable devices, simple gripping system, and so on. Due to the unique features and advantages, soft robots have a considerable range of applications. This article reviews state-of-the-art researches on soft robots and application areas. Actuation systems for soft robots can be categorized and analyzed into three types: variable length tendon, fluidic actuation, and electro-active polymer (EAP). The deformable property of soft robots restricts the use of many conventional rigid sensors such as encoders, strain gauges, or inertial measurement units. Thus, contactless approaches for sensing and/or sensors with low modulus are preferable for soft robots. Sensors include low modulus (< 1 MPa) elastomers with liquid-phase material filled channels and are appropriate for proprioception which is determined by the degree of curvature. In control perspective, novel control idea should be developed because the conventional control techniques may be inadequate to handle soft robots. Several innovative techniques and diverse materials & fabrication methods are described in this review article. In addition, a wide range of soft robots are characterized and analyzed based on the following sub-categories; actuation, sensing, structure, control and electronics, materials, fabrication and system, and applications.
This work presents a soft hand capable of robustly grasping and identifying objects based on internal state measurements along with a combined system which autonomously performs grasps. A highly ...compliant soft hand allows for intrinsic robustness to grasping uncertainties; the addition of internal sensing allows the configuration of the hand and object to be detected. The finger module includes resistive force sensors on the fingertips for contact detection and resistive bend sensors for measuring the curvature profile of the finger. The curvature sensors can be used to estimate the contact geometry and thus to distinguish between a set of grasped objects. With one data point from each finger, the object grasped by the hand can be identified. A clustering algorithm to find the correspondence for each grasped object is presented for both enveloping grasps and pinch grasps. A closed loop system uses a camera to detect approximate object locations. Compliance in the soft hand handles that uncertainty in addition to geometric uncertainty in the shape of the object.
Soft robotics-based teleoperated robotic catheter systems hold great promise for improving the safety and efficacy of vascular interventional surgery (VIS). Despite advances, current robotic catheter ...systems actuated via cables have low stability, high force loss, lack of force sensing, and low stability when working against the dynamic cardiothoracic environment, all of which significantly reduce their effectiveness in clinical settings. Therefore, it is essential to equip the robotic catheters with a stabilizing mechanism (SM), a real-time force sensor, and the ability to expand the workspace without moving its body. This work introduces a new concept of a miniaturized soft robotic catheter (MSRC) for the VIS. The system consists of a soft manipulator for navigation and bending motion, a variable stiffness stabilizing mechanism (VSSM), and a soft force sensor for monitoring tool-tissue contact. By employing soft hydraulic filament artificial muscles (HFAMs), the flexible manipulator has an omnidirectional and extendable workspace and can generate a force of 0.375 N, which is monitored by a new HFAM-based sensor with a high sensitivity of about 10.7 KPa/N. The new VSSM can be deployed as a lantern form with a wide diameter range from 6 mm to 25 mm, potentially enhancing the catheter tip’s stability at various blood vessels (e.g., the inferior vena cava IVC) to perform VIS. The VSSM has a controllable deploying force and is capable of withstanding highly compressed forces with little deflection. The system feasibility to perform cardiac ablation is demonstrated with a simulated heart’s right atrium (RA), potentially offering a reliable tool for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). The design, modelling, and fabrication of the device are also presented and followed by experimental characterizations, and ex-vivo tests.
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•A novel soft robotic catheter with integrated bending and extending, stabilizing, and sensing ability is developed.•An omnidirectional manipulator with extendable workspace for bending and extending motion is fabricated and characterized.•A stabilizing mechanism with a unique characteristic of variable stiffness is proposed to use for stabilizing the catheter.•A new and low-cost soft force sensor with high sensitivity for monitoring tool-tissue contacts is proposed.•Ex-vivo experiments of the system performing ablation in the heart's right atrium (RA) are conducted.
We investigate the kinematics and mechanical mechanisms of cylindrically woven straps with a plain twill pattern, which form a tubular structure known as the Chinese Finger Trap. Our findings, ...derived from a combination of analytical, experimental, and numerical methods, demonstrate that when subjected to axial tension, the straps within the structure undergo reconfiguration, resulting in radial contraction. The geometry of the straps influences this contraction. As the structure compacts, the linear axial force transforms into an exponential force, resulting in a catenary-like profile in woven tubes due to the axially symmetric distribution of straps. Our study of this tension-induced contraction strategy proposes a straightforward approach to manufacturing morphable structures capable of efficiently converting axial elongation into radial contraction. This technique holds potential for medical, architecture, and soft robotics applications, offering accessible and controlled engagement and disengagement capabilities.
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