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Manufacturing, Control, and Performance Evaluation of a Gecko-Inspired Soft Robot

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A Reconfigurable Soft Linkage Robot via Internal "Virtual" Joints.

Mingsong Jiang¹, Jiansong Wang¹, Nicholas Gravish¹

¹Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.

|April 29, 2024

Summary

This study introduces a novel hybrid robot design combining soft, inflatable linkages with rigid, reconfigurable joints. This approach bridges the gap between soft and traditional robots, enabling adaptable movement and control for new applications.

Keywords:

inflatable robots pinch-joint mechanism reconfigurable soft robots untethered actuation

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Area of Science:

Robotics
Materials Science
Mechanical Engineering

Background:

Traditional robots rely on rigid links and discrete joints, limiting flexibility.
Soft robots offer continuous bending but often lack precise control.
A gap exists between the reconfigurability of soft robots and the controllability of traditional robots.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a hybrid robot design that integrates soft and rigid components.
To demonstrate a novel method for creating reconfigurable joints in soft robotic systems.
To explore the potential of hybrid designs for enhanced robotic functionality.

Main Methods:

Developed a hybrid robot featuring soft, inflatable linkages and rigid, internally actuated joints.
Utilized geometric pinching of inflatable beams to create mechanical pinch-joints.
Enabled on-demand spatial reconfiguration of joint-linkage configurations via motorized modules.

Main Results:

Successfully created a hybrid robot with spatially reconfigurable joints.
Demonstrated two distinct applications: a deployable robot manipulator and a terrestrial crawling robot.
Showcased tunable gaits for the crawling robot through joint reconfiguration.

Conclusions:

Hybrid robot designs can effectively bridge the functional gap between soft and hard robotics.
The proposed method allows for adaptable and controllable robotic systems.
This approach opens new avenues for versatile robot manipulation and locomotion.