Session: 17-01-01: Research Posters

Paper Number: 150646

150646 - Dexterous Soft Robotic Hand With Rich Sensing Feedback 

Human hands are extremely dexterous, seamlessly able to realize various movements involving gripping, holding, lifting, touching, moving, etc. Such unique capabilities result from the combination of muscle actuation and skin sensing. With an inspiration rooted in nature, the exploration of soft materials has opened up new avenues to revolutionize the field of robotics for diverse applications. As opposed to traditional rigid robotic hands, soft hands benefit from the elastic properties intrinsic to the materials used to make them, typically involving elastomers, which allows them to make use of elastic deformations to achieve a range of motion that is either difficult or impossible for rigid materials. Consequently, soft hands are able to more accurately emulate biological structures presenting a flexibility and dexterity that rigid materials like metals and plastics utilized in hard robots do not have. Although soft robotic hands have gained significant progress in the past decade, integrating multiple sensing capability, such as tactile and strain sensing, combining it with accurate and dexterous actuation/motion remains challenging. In this work, we explore a co-design strategy that will seamlessly integrate pneumatic actuation and sensors to fabricate a dexterous soft robotic hand with rich feedback. Specifically, pressurized air is distributed through each individual finger to achieve diverse grips and motions. The base of the finger will only inflate when there are no reinforcements to guide the movement, air expanding the inner chamber of the finger. To achieve individual bending of a finger, constraints and strain limiting layers are configured to limit the degrees of freedom of the design. A fiber reinforcement layer that makes use of thread wrapping around the soft finger constrains the expansion of the finger when air fills the cavity. Depending on the arrangement of the wrapping, a wide range of motion has been achieved including twisting, bending, extension, and shortening. To constrain the motion in one direction like what is present in a finger that should not be bending backwards, a strain limiting layer is needed. To mimic a human finger, proper structure with a similar function to that of bones is investigated, which is envisioned to enhance the grip strength of the soft hand. The sensing capability will be evaluated through different objects for grasping, and gestures. We expect this intelligent soft robotic hand will enable robot manipulation of various soft and rigid objects with a wide range of weight. Besides the applications for robots, this hand will also find applications in prosthetics. Future possibilities with the inclusion of complex bones, tendons, and muscles will be considered and discussed, which may push the boundaries of humanoid robotic hands.   

Presenting Author: Ariadna Ramirez-Lazaro University of Arkansas

Presenting Author Biography: Ariadna Ramirez-Lazaro is an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student and a member of the Honors College at the University of Arkansas. She currently works as an undergraduate Research Assistant at Wan Research Group (1RG) led by Dr. Wan Shou. Originally from Peru, she moved to Fayetteville, AR, in 2011 and lived there until mid-2018 when she returned to Peru for her high school education. After graduating in late 2020 as the top of her class for three consecutive years, she took a gap year during the pandemic to explore various interests, including STEM education for K-12 students, irrigation system design, photography, textile design, and art-based content creation.
During this time, Ariadna developed a keen interest in space, specifically the physical and psychological impact of space travel on biological systems, which led her to discover the field of bioastronautics. With this newfound interest, she returned to the United States to begin her undergraduate studies at the University of Arkansas, where she has had the opportunity to explore the diverse field of soft robotics and their promising applications, including bioastronautics. In conjunction with research in developing flexible sensors, she is involved in multiple soft robot projects and has been awarded the Honors College Research Grant, affirming the significance of her research.

Authors:

Youwen Liang University of Arkansas
Wan Shou University of Arkansas
Ariadna Ramirez-Lazaro University of Arkansas