Energy-efficient tunable-stiffness soft robots using second moment of area actuation
Energy-efficient tunable-stiffness soft robots using second moment of area actuation
The optimal stiffness for soft swimming robots depends on swimming speed, which means no single stiffness can maximise efficiency in all swimming conditions. Tunable stiffness would produce an increased range of high-efficiency swimming speeds for robots with flexible propulsors and enable soft control surfaces for steering underwater vehicles. We propose and demonstrate a method for tunable soft robotic stiffness using inflatable rubber tubes to stiffen a silicone foil through pressure and second moment of area change. We achieved double the effective stiffness of the system for an input pressure change from 0 to 0.8 bar and 2 J energy input. We achieved a resonant amplitude gain of 5 to 7 times the input amplitude and tripled the high-gain frequency range comparedto a foil with fixed stiffness. These results show that changing second moment of area is an energy effective approach tot unable-stiffness robots.
5464-5469
Micklem, Leo
88b31aa0-c8b3-43ed-919d-10137ef0172b
Weymouth, Gabriel D.
f2976de1-6e6f-4e99-b837-87ae33659dc8
Thornton, Blair
8293beb5-c083-47e3-b5f0-d9c3cee14be9
20 October 2022
Micklem, Leo
88b31aa0-c8b3-43ed-919d-10137ef0172b
Weymouth, Gabriel D.
f2976de1-6e6f-4e99-b837-87ae33659dc8
Thornton, Blair
8293beb5-c083-47e3-b5f0-d9c3cee14be9
Micklem, Leo, Weymouth, Gabriel D. and Thornton, Blair
(2022)
Energy-efficient tunable-stiffness soft robots using second moment of area actuation.
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 2022, Kyoto International Conference Centre, Kyoto, Japan.
23 - 27 Oct 2022.
.
(doi:10.1109/IROS47612.2022.9981704).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
The optimal stiffness for soft swimming robots depends on swimming speed, which means no single stiffness can maximise efficiency in all swimming conditions. Tunable stiffness would produce an increased range of high-efficiency swimming speeds for robots with flexible propulsors and enable soft control surfaces for steering underwater vehicles. We propose and demonstrate a method for tunable soft robotic stiffness using inflatable rubber tubes to stiffen a silicone foil through pressure and second moment of area change. We achieved double the effective stiffness of the system for an input pressure change from 0 to 0.8 bar and 2 J energy input. We achieved a resonant amplitude gain of 5 to 7 times the input amplitude and tripled the high-gain frequency range comparedto a foil with fixed stiffness. These results show that changing second moment of area is an energy effective approach tot unable-stiffness robots.
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IROS_Tunable_Stiffness
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Accepted/In Press date: 30 June 2022
Published date: 20 October 2022
Additional Information:
Funded by UKRI.
Copyright IEEE
Venue - Dates:
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 2022, Kyoto International Conference Centre, Kyoto, Japan, 2022-10-23 - 2022-10-27
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Local EPrints ID: 470149
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/470149
PURE UUID: c0f32584-dfe2-4e17-9387-2d9d672e9f1a
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Date deposited: 04 Oct 2022 16:36
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 22:07
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Author:
Leo Micklem
Author:
Gabriel D. Weymouth
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