Design And Experimental Research Of Pneumatic Soft Robot Hand (Master Thesis)

A pneumatic soft robot hand which imitates the shapes and gestures of human hand is introduced in this article. Soft robotics,3D printing technology and casting technology are used to fabricate the soft robot hand. The soft robot hand is fabricated by conbining the soft joint and rigid phalanx and its fingers are driven by soft actuators which are made of highly extensible, elastomeric material. The thumb is able to bend in one or multiple direction, and the other fingers are able to bend and yaw. The soft robot hand has good flexibility and compliance thus it can perform complex gestures and grasp objects with different shapes. The robot hand is mainly made of silicon rubber which makes it light in weight and compatible with different objects, additionally, it is even capable of lifting heavy objects. The pneumatic soft humanoid robot hand can be applied in industrial manufacturing and medical field.Kinematics model is established based on the homogeneous coordinate transformation matrix. FEM model used to analyze movement process of the fingers is completed with Abaqus base on the Yeoh energy density model. Static model based on Neo-Hook and its factors are researched for the underactuated fingers bending in one direction, which lay the theoretical foundation for standardization of the soft robot hand design. Tensile tests for the standard samples are done to get the stress-strain curve of different silicon rubber through symmetrical tensile testing machine. Finite element analysis and experiments testing the bending angles and clamping force of the fingers under air pressure are performed to validate the theoretical model of static for the fingers using MEMS attitude sensors and contact force tester. Besides, coupling of bending angles between the three joints under air pressure and trends of the bending angles under load are analyzed for the fingers.Grasp strategy and the corresponding control scheme are designed on basis of control platform consist of pneumatic actuator system, attitude acquisition system and motion control system. Flexibility of the soft robot hand and its ability to grasp objects are verified through movement simulating human hands to perform complex gestures and grasp objects.The research of thesis presents the ideal solution for the soft robot hand, and lays a theoretical and experimental basis for the application of the pneumatic soft robot hand.