FilMBot: A High-Speed Soft Parallel Robotic Micromanipulator

TL;DR

FilMBot is a fast, precise, and cost-effective soft robotic micromanipulator that combines low-stiffness film structures with electromagnetic actuation, enabling high-speed operations and broadening potential applications.

Contribution

The paper introduces FilMBot, a novel soft robotic micromanipulator with high speed, precision, and simple construction, advancing the capabilities of soft robotic manipulators.

Findings

Achieves angular speeds up to 2117 and 2456 deg/s

Linear velocities of 1.61 m/s and 1.92 m/s with a 4-cm needle

Maintains high precision (~6.3 μm) across frequencies

Abstract

Soft robotic manipulators are generally slow despite their great adaptability, resilience, and compliance. This limitation also extends to current soft robotic micromanipulators. Here, we introduce FilMBot, a 3-DOF film-based, electromagnetically actuated, soft kinematic robotic micromanipulator achieving speeds up to 2117 {\deg}/s and 2456 {\deg}/s in {\alpha} and \{beta} angular motions, with corresponding linear velocities of 1.61 m/s and 1.92 m/s using a 4-cm needle end-effector, 0.54 m/s along the Z axis, and 1.57 m/s during Z-axis morph switching. The robot can reach ~1.50 m/s in path-following tasks, with an operational bandwidth below ~30 Hz, and remains responsive at 50 Hz. It demonstrates high precision (~6.3 {\mu}m, or ~0.05% of its workspace) in path-following tasks, with precision remaining largely stable across frequencies. The novel combination of the low-stiffness soft kinematic film structure and strong electromagnetic actuation in FilMBot opens new avenues for soft robotics. Furthermore, its simple construction and inexpensive, readily accessible components could broaden the application of micromanipulators beyond current academic and professional users.