Soft multifunctional bistable fabric mechanism for electronics-free autonomous robots.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Background:

• Pneumatic soft robots offer great potential but often require complex electronics for pressure control.
• Integrating actuation and control into a single soft module is a significant challenge in soft robotics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel class of bistable fabric mechanisms (BFMs) for electronics-free autonomous soft robots.
• To demonstrate the integrated actuation and valve capabilities of BFMs for pneumatic control and computation.

Main Methods:

• Fabricating BFMs using two bonded fabric chambers with embedded tubes to achieve bistability and controlled kinking.
• Characterizing BFM performance, including bending actuation speed, pressure regulation, pneumatic logic, and oscillation frequency.
• Integrating BFMs into soft robotic systems, such as a gripper and a crawler, powered by a single air supply.

Main Results:

• BFMs exhibit fast bending actuation (>1166° s⁻¹), on/off and continuous pressure regulation, and pneumatic logic capabilities.
• Autonomous oscillating actuation up to 4.6 Hz was achieved using BFMs.
• Demonstrated applications include a soft gripper for dynamic grasping and a soft crawler capable of autonomous jumping.

Conclusions:

• BFMs successfully merge soft bistable actuators and valves, enabling electronics-free autonomous soft robots.
• The developed BFMs offer versatile functionalities for advanced pneumatic control and actuation.
• This work presents a significant advancement towards entirely soft, autonomous robotic systems.