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Design and Motion Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Soft Robotic Finger Based on Multi-Sectional Soft Reinforced Actuator

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Abstract

In this paper, a finger-like soft robot is proposed and fabricated with a new multi-sectional design. In the previous multi-section soft robots, the position of the bending center of the soft section is changed by changing the internal pressure. This makes them different from the human finger and creates kinematic analysis problems. Here, an efficient joint is proposed for the soft reinforced actuators to act like human fingers such that the joint rotation location does not change much on the robot for different internal pressures. A prototype of multi-sectional soft reinforced actuator with new joint is fabricated to move like a human finger and generate the distal interphalangeal (DIP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint angles. Finite element method is employed to demonstrate the behavior of the robot and also an analytical model is presented to predict its joints angle in terms of the internal pressure. The effect of a geometric parameter of the joint is investigated on the tip displacement of the robot, the DIP and the PIP joint angles. Due to the fact that the relation between pressure and joint angles is unclear, an equation is proposed for estimation of the DIP and PIP angles as a function of the pressure. Finally, comparing the angles of the robot joints with the angle of the human finger shows that the proposed design can move like a human finger.

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Code Availability

The FEM analysis and the analytical study were performed by the commercial package ABAQUS and MATLAB, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, 7631885356, Iran

    Amir Janghorban & Reza Dehghani

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  1. Amir Janghorban
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  2. Reza Dehghani
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This study was based on the continuation of Amir Janghorban's master's thesis under the supervision of Dr. Reza Dehghani.

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Correspondence to Reza Dehghani.

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Janghorban, A., Dehghani, R. Design and Motion Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Soft Robotic Finger Based on Multi-Sectional Soft Reinforced Actuator. J Intell Robot Syst 104, 74 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01579-3

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