Problem
Dr. Farshid Alambeigi and his team have developed a directionally-tuned stiffness pneumatic elastomer robot (DSPER) with a novel 3D-printed quad-helical internal structure capable of achieving a wide range of bending and extension shapes without radial expansion. Dr. Alambeigi is an Assistant Professor who directs the Advanced Robotic Technologies for Surgery (ARTS) Lab at The University of Texas at Austin, with primary research interests in the development of high dexterity and situationally aware continuum manipulators, soft robots, and instruments designed for less/minimally invasive medical applications. He has published numerous articles in this field, and his research has broad applicability in advanced design/manufacturing practices, biomechanical/biomedical engineering, and robots/intelligent mechanical systems.
Solution
The developed DSPER is composed of a 3D-printed, quad-helical tube internal structure configured from a flexible resin. This design allows for large deformations resulting in a pneumatic, soft robot that can concurrently bend and extend dynamically. The inventors posit that it is well suited for use in various industrial operations.
Fabrication of the DSPER uses a simple, single-step molding process that can be tuned by modifying the design parameters of its internal, 3D-printed quad-helical coil’s diameter/structure. Pneumatic elastomer soft robots are difficult to manufacture, as their fabrication requires multiple intermediate molding steps and significant amounts of manual labor to wrap fibers around a tube which is used for restricting robot radial expansion and ballooning during operation. This manufacturing process often results in less-than-optimal robot designs, which are difficult to tune for specific applications as they have difficulty achieving the desired shape during use. By contrast, the developed DSPER simplifies the fabrication process to a single-step, additive manufacturing process, thereby reducing the number of molded parts by up to 80% and decreasing the required manufacturing labor by up to 50%.
The internal structure of the molded DSPER is capable of staying upright without external support, and the structures stiffness results in highly controlled bending and extension behaviors with a wide range of industrial applications, including; minimally invasive surgical procedures, pipe inspection operations, food packaging, and other tasks requiring movement of delicate/fragile objects (e.g., fruit harvesting). A developed prototype DSPER system has been designed and constructed with laboratory testing indicating high fidelity and superior tunability.
