Mechanically Versatile Soft Machines through Laminar Jamming. (26th February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Narang, Yashraj S.; Vlassak, Joost J.; Howe, Robert D.
• Is Part Of: Advanced functional materials. Volume 28:Number 17(2018)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2018-02-26
• Subjects: laminar jamming -- shape locking -- soft robotics -- variable impedance -- variable kinematics; Materials -- Periodicals; Chemical vapor deposition -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201707136
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1616-301X

Abstract

Abstract: There are two major structural paradigms in robotics: soft machines, which are conformable, durable, and safe; and traditional rigid robots, which are fast, precise, and capable of applying high forces. Here, the paradigms are bridged by enabling soft machines to behave like traditional rigid robots on command. This task is accomplished via laminar jamming, a structural phenomenon in which a laminate of compliant strips becomes strongly coupled through friction when a pressure gradient is applied, causing dramatic changes in mechanical properties. Rigorous analytical and finite element models of laminar jamming are developed, and jamming structures are experimentally characterized to show that the models are highly accurate. Then jamming structures are integrated into soft machines to enable them to selectively exhibit the stiffness, damping, and kinematics of traditional rigid robots. The models allow jamming structures to efficiently meet arbitrary performance specifications, and the physical demonstrations illustrate how to construct systems that can behave like either soft machines or traditional rigid robots at will, such as continuum manipulators that can rapidly have joints appear and disappear. This study aims to foster a new generation of mechanically versatile machines and structures that cannot simply be classified as "soft" or "rigid." Abstract : The laminar jamming phenomenon is used to bridge the paradigms of soft machines and traditional rigid robots. Analytical and finite element models of laminar jamming structures are developed and experimentally validated. Prototypes and simulations demonstrate that the structures can provide soft robotic systems with tunable stiffness, damping, and kinematics, including the ability to activate or deactivate joints on command.