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Volume 14
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10.3390/polym14112265
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Article

A Proprioceptive Soft Robot Module Based on Supercoiled Polymer Artificial Muscle Strings

by
Yang Yang
1,*,
Honghui Zhu
1,
Jia Liu
1,*,
Haojian Lu
2,
Yi Ren
3 and
Michael Yu Wang
4,5
1
School of Automation, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control and Technology, Institute of Cyber-Systems and Control, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
3
Robotics X Lab, Tencent, Shenzhen 518000, China
4
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
5
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2022, 14(11), 2265; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112265
Submission received: 29 April 2022 / Revised: 27 May 2022 / Accepted: 30 May 2022 / Published: 1 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Section Polymer Chemistry)
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Abstract

In this paper, a multi-functional soft robot module that can be used to constitute a variety of soft robots is proposed. The body of the soft robot module made of rubber is in the shape of a long strip, with cylindrical chambers at both the top end and bottom end of the module for the function of actuators and sensors. The soft robot module is driven by supercoiled polymer artificial muscle (SCPAM) strings, which are made from conductive nylon sewing threads. Artificial muscle strings are embedded in the chambers of the module to control its deformation. In addition, SCPAM strings are also used for the robot module’s sensing based on the linear relationship between the string’s length and their resistance. The bending deformation of the robot is measured by the continuous change of the sensor’s resistance during the deformation of the module. Prototypes of an inchworm-like crawling robot and a soft robotic gripper are made, whose crawling ability and grasping ability are tested, respectively. We envision that the proposed proprioceptive soft robot module could potentially be used in other robotic applications, such as continuum robotic arm or underwater robot.
Keywords: soft robot module; SCPAM strings; proprioceptive sensing; actuation–sensing integration; crawling; gripping soft robot module; SCPAM strings; proprioceptive sensing; actuation–sensing integration; crawling; gripping

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MDPI and ACS Style

Yang, Y.; Zhu, H.; Liu, J.; Lu, H.; Ren, Y.; Wang, M.Y. A Proprioceptive Soft Robot Module Based on Supercoiled Polymer Artificial Muscle Strings. Polymers 2022, 14, 2265. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112265

AMA Style

Yang Y, Zhu H, Liu J, Lu H, Ren Y, Wang MY. A Proprioceptive Soft Robot Module Based on Supercoiled Polymer Artificial Muscle Strings. Polymers. 2022; 14(11):2265. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112265

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yang, Yang, Honghui Zhu, Jia Liu, Haojian Lu, Yi Ren, and Michael Yu Wang. 2022. "A Proprioceptive Soft Robot Module Based on Supercoiled Polymer Artificial Muscle Strings" Polymers 14, no. 11: 2265. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112265

APA Style

Yang, Y., Zhu, H., Liu, J., Lu, H., Ren, Y., & Wang, M. Y. (2022). A Proprioceptive Soft Robot Module Based on Supercoiled Polymer Artificial Muscle Strings. Polymers, 14(11), 2265. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112265

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