Electrostatics Softens Robot Touch - Could Inspire Superior Prosthetics
Robots have always been known for their mechanical touch and inhuman nature, but a team of Swiss researchers have devised a new system to let robots gently grip and lift fragile objects up to 80 times their weight, without damaging them. This technology could aid in automating lot of industries that involve sensitive and fragile objects of unpredictable sizes and shapes. Handling these deformable and flat objects was made possible by combining soft robotics (artificial muscles) and electro-adhesion technology.
Jun Shintake who is a doctoral student at EPFL and the lead author of this research paper, states that this is the first time ever that a robot arm has utilized both these technologies to adopt the form of the object it is picking up. The robot’s arms are built using electrodes and silicon membranes which when electrocuted, act as the thumb-index finger combination. Compared to former researches, the robot did not need any prior information about the shape or size of the object it was to handle. It is able to adjust to it on the fly.
The robotic fingers used in this research consist of five layers. Innermost layer is pre-stretched elastomer (rubber), which is enclosed between two layers of flexible electrodes, which in turn is entrapped by two layers of silicone. When no current flows through the electrodes, the flaps are bent away from one another because the two layers of silicone used are of different thickness. When a current flows through them, the electrodes straighten, causing the flaps to bend inward as if to grip an object.
It is not long ago that Harvard researchers together with National Geographic, came up with a similar solution for <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/harvard-researcher-helps-in-deep-sea-exploration-by-giving-robots-the-sensitive-touch.86527">Harvard Researcher Helps In Deep Sea Exploration By Giving Robots The Sensitive Touch</a>. Although the Swiss team believes that this soft touch could be applied in food processing and even space exploration, <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/social-innovation_making-crowdsourcing-work-for-the-disabled/41891660" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Making crowdsourcing work for the disabled - SWI swissinfo.ch</a> reminds us about a Red Cross aided program to raise fund for prosthetics through crowdsourcing, which could greatly benefit from innovations like this. Creating spares as good as original for the human body has been challenging for the same reasons this soft touch has addressed and managed to overcome to an extent.
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Jun Shintake who is a doctoral student at EPFL and the lead author of this research paper, states that this is the first time ever that a robot arm has utilized both these technologies to adopt the form of the object it is picking up. The robot’s arms are built using electrodes and silicon membranes which when electrocuted, act as the thumb-index finger combination. Compared to former researches, the robot did not need any prior information about the shape or size of the object it was to handle. It is able to adjust to it on the fly.
The robotic fingers used in this research consist of five layers. Innermost layer is pre-stretched elastomer (rubber), which is enclosed between two layers of flexible electrodes, which in turn is entrapped by two layers of silicone. When no current flows through the electrodes, the flaps are bent away from one another because the two layers of silicone used are of different thickness. When a current flows through them, the electrodes straighten, causing the flaps to bend inward as if to grip an object.
It is not long ago that Harvard researchers together with National Geographic, came up with a similar solution for <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/harvard-researcher-helps-in-deep-sea-exploration-by-giving-robots-the-sensitive-touch.86527">Harvard Researcher Helps In Deep Sea Exploration By Giving Robots The Sensitive Touch</a>. Although the Swiss team believes that this soft touch could be applied in food processing and even space exploration, <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/social-innovation_making-crowdsourcing-work-for-the-disabled/41891660" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Making crowdsourcing work for the disabled - SWI swissinfo.ch</a> reminds us about a Red Cross aided program to raise fund for prosthetics through crowdsourcing, which could greatly benefit from innovations like this. Creating spares as good as original for the human body has been challenging for the same reasons this soft touch has addressed and managed to overcome to an extent.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
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