SPONGE: Open-Source Designs of Modular Articulated Soft Robots

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  • Technische Universität Berlin
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Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5346-5353
Number of pages8
JournalIEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Volume9
Issue number6
Early online date15 Apr 2024
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2024

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

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Cite this

SPONGE: Open-Source Designs of Modular Articulated Soft Robots. / Habich, Tim Lukas; Haack, Jonas; Belhadj, Mehdi et al.
In: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 9, No. 6, 06.2024, p. 5346-5353.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Habich TL, Haack J, Belhadj M, Lehmann D, Seel T, Schappler M. SPONGE: Open-Source Designs of Modular Articulated Soft Robots. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2024 Jun;9(6):5346-5353. Epub 2024 Apr 15. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2404.10734, 10.1109/LRA.2024.3388855
Habich, Tim Lukas ; Haack, Jonas ; Belhadj, Mehdi et al. / SPONGE : Open-Source Designs of Modular Articulated Soft Robots. In: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2024 ; Vol. 9, No. 6. pp. 5346-5353.
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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.",
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