Spider-Inspired Electrohydraulic Actuators for Fast, Soft-Actuated Joints
The impressive locomotion and manipulation capabilities of spiders have led to a host of bioinspired robotic designs aiming to reproduce their functionalities; however, current actuation mechanisms are deficient in either speed, force output, displacement, or efficiency. Here—using inspiration from the hydraulic mechanism used in spider legs—soft-actuated joints are developed that use electrostatic forces to locally pressurize a hydraulic fluid, and cause flexion of a segmented structure. The result is a lightweight, low-profile articulating mechanism capable of fast operation, high forces, and large displacement; these devices are termed spider-inspired electrohydraulic soft-actuated (SES) joints. SES joints with rotation angles up to 70°, blocked torques up to 70 mN m, and specific torques up to 21 N m / kg are demonstrated. SES joints demonstrate high speed operation, with measured roll-off frequencies up to 24 Hz and specific power as high as 230 W/kg—similar to human muscle. The versatility of these devices is illustrated by combining SES joints to create a bidirectional joint, an artificial limb with independently addressable joints, and a compliant gripper. The lightweight, low-profile design, and high performance of these devices, makes them well-suited toward the development of articulating robotic systems that can rapidly maneuver.
| Author(s): | Nicholas Kellaris and Philipp Rothemund and Yi Zeng and Shane K. Mitchell and Garret M. Smith and Kaushik Jayaram and Christoph Keplinger |
| Journal: | Advanced Science |
| Volume: | 8 |
| Number (issue): | 14 |
| Pages: | 2100916 |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Project(s): | |
| Bibtex Type: | Article (article) |
| DOI: | 10.1002/advs.202100916 |
| Electronic Archiving: | grant_archive |
BibTex
@article{Kellaris21-AS-Spider,
title = {Spider-Inspired Electrohydraulic Actuators for Fast, Soft-Actuated Joints},
journal = {Advanced Science},
abstract = {The impressive locomotion and manipulation capabilities of spiders have led to a host of bioinspired robotic designs aiming to reproduce their functionalities; however, current actuation mechanisms are deficient in either speed, force output, displacement, or efficiency. Here—using inspiration from the hydraulic mechanism used in spider legs—soft-actuated joints are developed that use electrostatic forces to locally pressurize a hydraulic fluid, and cause flexion of a segmented structure. The result is a lightweight, low-profile articulating mechanism capable of fast operation, high forces, and large displacement; these devices are termed spider-inspired electrohydraulic soft-actuated (SES) joints. SES joints with rotation angles up to 70°, blocked torques up to 70 mN m, and specific torques up to 21 N m / kg are demonstrated. SES joints demonstrate high speed operation, with measured roll-off frequencies up to 24 Hz and specific power as high as 230 W/kg—similar to human muscle. The versatility of these devices is illustrated by combining SES joints to create a bidirectional joint, an artificial limb with independently addressable joints, and a compliant gripper. The lightweight, low-profile design, and high performance of these devices, makes them well-suited toward the development of articulating robotic systems that can rapidly maneuver.},
volume = {8},
number = {14},
pages = {2100916},
year = {2021},
slug = {kellaris21-as-spider},
author = {Kellaris, Nicholas and Rothemund, Philipp and Zeng, Yi and Mitchell, Shane K. and Smith, Garret M. and Jayaram, Kaushik and Keplinger, Christoph}
}