SPONGE

Open-Source Designs of Modular Articulated Soft Robots

authored by: Tim Lukas Habich, Jonas Haack, Mehdi Belhadj, Dustin Lehmann, Thomas Seel, Moritz Schappler
Abstract: Soft-robot designs are manifold, but only a few are publicly available. Often, these are only briefly described in their publications. This complicates reproduction, and hinders the reproducibility and comparability of research results. If the designs were uniform and open source, validating researched methods on real benchmark systems would be possible. To address this, we present two variants of a soft pneumatic robot with antagonistic bellows as open source. Starting from a semi-modular design with multiple cables and tubes routed through the robot body, the transition to a fully modular robot with integrated microvalves and serial communication is highlighted. Modularity in terms of stackability, actuation, and communication is achieved, which is the crucial requirement for building soft robots with many degrees of freedom and high dexterity for real-world tasks. Both systems are compared regarding their respective advantages and disadvantages. The robots' functionality is demonstrated in experiments on airtightness, gravitational influence, position control with mean tracking errors of <3 deg, and long-term operation of cast and printed bellows.
Organisation(s): Institute of Mechatronic Systems
External Organisation(s): Technische Universität Berlin
Type: Article
Journal: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Volume: 9
Pages: 5346-5353
No. of pages: 8
ISSN: 2377-3766
Publication date: 06.2024
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Control and Systems Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Computer Science Applications, Control and Optimization, Artificial Intelligence
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.10734 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2024.3388855 (Access: Closed)

BibTeX

@article{599d320bfd92404e8468486d8580529f,
title = "SPONGE: Open-Source Designs of Modular Articulated Soft Robots",
abstract = "Soft-robot designs are manifold, but only a few are publicly available. Often, these are only briefly described in their publications. This complicates reproduction, and hinders the reproducibility and comparability of research results. If the designs were uniform and open source, validating researched methods on real benchmark systems would be possible. To address this, we present two variants of a soft pneumatic robot with antagonistic bellows as open source. Starting from a semi-modular design with multiple cables and tubes routed through the robot body, the transition to a fully modular robot with integrated microvalves and serial communication is highlighted. Modularity in terms of stackability, actuation, and communication is achieved, which is the crucial requirement for building soft robots with many degrees of freedom and high dexterity for real-world tasks. Both systems are compared regarding their respective advantages and disadvantages. The robots' functionality is demonstrated in experiments on airtightness, gravitational influence, position control with mean tracking errors of <3 deg, and long-term operation of cast and printed bellows.",
keywords = "Actuators, Bellows, Cables, Electron tubes, Hydraulic/Pneumatic Actuators, Pneumatic systems, Robots, Soft Robot Materials and Design, Soft robotics, Soft Sensors and Actuators, Soft robot materials and design, soft sensors and actuators, hydraulic/pneumatic actuators",
author = "Habich, {Tim Lukas} and Jonas Haack and Mehdi Belhadj and Dustin Lehmann and Thomas Seel and Moritz Schappler",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 IEEE.",
year = "2024",
month = jun,
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2404.10734",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
pages = "5346--5353",
journal = "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters",
issn = "2377-3766",
publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",
number = "6",
}