Robotic pick-and-place operations in multifunctional liquid crystal elastomers

Lyu, Pengrong ; Astam, Mert Orhan ; Sánchez-Somolinos, Carlos ; Liu, Danqing

Resumen: Pick-and-place operations for transporting objects precisely to a target position are a prominent function of (soft-) robotic systems. Therefore, there is great interest in industry to improve the characteristic gripping, holding, and releasing methods involved in pick-and-place operations. Within living organisms such as octopi, nature demonstrates that multiple types of conjointly working actuators are required for flexible pick-and-place operations. Herein, a multifunctional soft robotic arm is developed, capable of transporting an object within 3D space. The soft robotic arm consists of two structural actuators (rotating base and lifting unit) and a suction cup-based gripper. The structural actuator acts as both the load bearing and actuating components of the robotic system. Yet, the gripper is the crucial innovation within the robotic arm. A cephalopod-limb-inspired gripper functioning through the reversible flat-to-conical deformation of azimuthally aligned liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films is proposed. The pressure-generating actuation mechanism of the gripper means that no external device is needed to operate the gripping function. Akin to natural systems, the in-tandem operation of the actuators in the soft robotic arm allows for multifactored tasks. Yet, the design achieves this through the use of a single material, which is not innate in natural archetypes.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1002/aisy.202200280

Año: 2022

Publicado en: Advanced Intelligent Systems 4, 12 (2022), 2200280 [8 pp.]
ISSN: 2640-4567

Factor impacto JCR: 7.4 (2022)

Categ. JCR: AUTOMATION & CONTROL SYSTEMS rank: 9 / 65 = 0.138 (2022) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE rank: 34 / 145 = 0.234 (2022) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: ROBOTICS rank: 8 / 30 = 0.267 (2022) - Q2 - T1

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/PID2020-118485RB-I00

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)