A multi-motion bionic soft hexapod robot driven by self-sensing controlled twisted artificial muscles

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Materials Science
• Biomimetics

Background:

• Artificial muscles offer advantages for bionic robots due to their biological muscle-like actuation.
• Existing artificial muscles, including twisted artificial muscles (TAMs) from nylon 6,6, face challenges in precise control, limiting their embeddedness.
• Nylon 6,6 TAMs provide a low-cost, integrated, and low-hysteresis actuation method.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel self-sensing control method for TAMs.
• To enable accurate real-time temperature control of TAMs by monitoring heating wire resistance.
• To demonstrate the application of this control method in a bionic soft hexapod robot.

Main Methods:

• Developed a self-sensing control strategy by monitoring the real-time resistance of the heating wire within TAMs.
• Implemented simultaneous control of 18 TAMs using the self-sensing method.
• Designed a bionic soft hexapod robot utilizing a novel insect bionics-inspired step walking method.

Main Results:

• Achieved accurate real-time temperature control of TAMs, enabling simultaneous operation of 18 units.
• Successfully developed a bionic soft hexapod robot capable of multi-motion and load-bearing.
• Demonstrated amphibious locomotion capabilities for the robot on land (300g load) and underwater (1kg load).

Conclusions:

• The self-sensing control method provides a reliable approach for precise TAM operation.
• The developed bionic robot showcases advanced mobility and load capacity in diverse environments.
• This work significantly contributes to the advancement of soft robotics and artificial muscle technology.