A Plant-Inspired Multifunctional, Two Way, and Fiberless Soft Gripper with Sensorized Kinaesthesia

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fiberless, multifunctional soft pneumatic actuator inspired by plants, capable of bidirectional movements and equipped with embedded sensors for self-proprioception, demonstrating promising applications in soft robotics.

Contribution

It presents a novel fiberless soft actuator with helical channels and embedded resistive sensors, enabling multifunctionality, bidirectional actuation, and self-sensing capabilities in soft robotics.

Findings

Successfully demonstrated bidirectional and multifunctional actuation.

Embedded sensors can distinguish different actuator functions.

Validated the gripper's ability to handle various objects.

Abstract

This work presents a new fiberless soft pneumatic actuator that can work multifunctional and bidirectional, and its embedded sensors give it a self-proprioception ability. This actuator works based on the idea of employing helical pressure channels. Applying the controlled input pressures into these two channels causes a variety of deformations and actuation. In particular, single pressure, imbalanced pressures, and balanced pressures applied in the channels cause bidirectional coilings, opposite bendings, and elongation, respectively, in a single unit actuator. Also, two U-shaped microchannels are created, and by injecting a gel-based conductive material, the actuator is equipped with resistive sensors which are responsive to a vast dynamic range from a small oscillation to a large elongation. This actuator has so many promising features as a multifunctional soft gripper, and its embedded soft sensors enable it to have better controllability in real problems. The multifunctionality of this actuator has been validated with several experimental tests, and also we have shown it has excellent potential in gripping a variety of objects. Finally, the embedded sensors can discriminate the main functions of actuators, and also they can play the role of independent sensors as well like a stretch, pressure, or bending sensors.