<p>Soft actuators have demonstrated great potential to be utilized in many industrial applications due to their ability to be produced in unusual shapes, their capacity to conform within a containing envelope and their large power to displacement ratios. A great majority of these flexible structures are produced by casting processes, mainly because silicone materials are mostly used for producing them due to their high elasticity and flexibility. Innovative 3-D printing techniques and flexible materials have been explored and utilized to produce soft actuators to overcome this limitation in production. This paper presents a 3-D printed soft actuator with embedded sensing capabilities and able to produce and output a signal based on its actuation position. We were able to control and actuate the soft actuator while sensing its deformation using a resistance-based sensor. The entire structure was produced using the FDM technique, in one continuous process without support material. In addition, this paper presents a 3-D printed gripper composed by three bellow actuators with embedded sensing. Gripper performance was characterized lifting different rigid objects and a preliminary closed loop control was attempted using the signal response from the embedded sensor. Various control strategies for optimal actuator movement were tested and modeled.</p>

Fully 3d Printed Soft Actuator With Embedded Sensing

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/SMASIS/SMASIS2021/volume/85499

ASME 2021 Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS2021)

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