Continuous deformation analysis and contact force estimation for pneumatic bending actuators interacting with environment

Soft bending actuators show high adaptability for applications such as rehabilitation or grasping. Although constant curvature assumption has been extensively used for free motion modeling, these actuators do not bend circularly when interacting with the environment. In such situation, conventional...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Namdar Ghalati, Mohammad Hadi, Ghafarirad, Hamed
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Académie des sciences 2023-01-01
Series:Comptes Rendus. Mécanique
Subjects:
Online Access:https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/mecanique/articles/10.5802/crmeca.167/
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Summary:Soft bending actuators show high adaptability for applications such as rehabilitation or grasping. Although constant curvature assumption has been extensively used for free motion modeling, these actuators do not bend circularly when interacting with the environment. In such situation, conventional bending sensors cannot provide useful information on their shape. In this paper, the Finite Rigid Elements approach is utilized to model the behavior of a soft pneumatic bending actuator in free motion and contact. With this method, the variable curvature configuration under different external loads can be modeled. Then, the contact force between the actuator and an object located in a specific position is estimated utilizing the Gradient Descent optimization method. Experimental results verified the combinatorial proposed approach for both force estimation and structure deformation.
ISSN:1873-7234