Design And Experimental Research Of Soft Manipulator

With the development of modern technology,robots are increasingly used to automatically sort items in logistics warehouses.The performance of the robot as an actuator that is in direct contact with the gripping object has a crucial influence on the working efficiency of the robot.Traditional robots lack flexibility and complex environmental adaptability,and human-computer interaction is poor,making it difficult to adapt to new production needs.Therefore,this paper designs a new type of pneumatic soft manipulator,which has high structural softness and continuous deformation ability,and can be stably grasped in a narrow and messy environment.The specific research contents are as follows:A new type of pneumatic soft manipulator was designed.It consists of an innovative structure with a drive section with an air cavity and a solid section for positioning.The internal chamber is designed as a hexagon,which creates a differential strain by adding a restraining strain-limiting layer to the bottom,so that the soft manipulator can achieve two-way bending,expanding the grab range.The significance of the design factor affecting the bending radius of the soft manipulator is analyzed.The finite element model of a single soft manipulator is established,and its nonlinear characteristics are described by the Yeoh model of the second-order superelastic material.The thickness of the wall,the width of the finger and the distance between the two outer walls are analyzed.The extent to which the three significant design factors affect the bending performance of the soft manipulator.A mathematical model is proposed to describe the relationship between the input manipulator pressure and the bending angle of the soft manipulator.This model incorporates the kinematics and dynamics of a soft manipulator.Based on the segmental constant curvature model,the kinematics model of the soft manipulator is derived.Based on the Lagrangian mechanics,the kinetic energy,elastic potential energy,etc.of the soft manipulator are analyzed,and the dynamic model of the soft manipulator is obtained.The prototype of the soft manipulator was completed.Moreover,the pneumatic circuit of the soft manipulator is built by using pneumatic components such as a gas pump,a vacuum generator and a solenoid valve to provide a stable air pressure for the soft manipulator.A soft manipulator experimental platform was built to verify the correctness of the mathematical model of the input air pressure and bending angle through experiments.A large number of gripping experiments were carried out on the soft manipulator.The results show that the soft manipulator designed this time is effective.Finally,it is proved by theory and experiment that the soft manipulator can accurately and stably grasp in a dense and narrow space.