Strategies to Control Performance of 3D-Printed, Cable-Driven Soft Polymer Actuators: From Simple Architectures to Gripper Prototype

Slesarenko, Viacheslav; Engelkemier, Seiji; Galich, Pavel I.; Vladimirsky, Dmitry; Klein, Gregory; Rudykh, Stephan

doi:10.3390/polym10080846

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

Strategies to Control Performance of 3D-Printed, Cable-Driven Soft Polymer Actuators: From Simple Architectures to Gripper Prototype

Viacheslav Slesarenko

^1,*

¹,

¹ and

Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32003, Israel

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Polymers 2018, 10(8), 846; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10080846

Received: 2 July 2018 / Revised: 22 July 2018 / Accepted: 26 July 2018 / Published: 1 August 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Actuator)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Citation Export

Abstract

The following is a study of the performance of soft cable-driven polymer actuators produced by multimaterial 3D printing. We demonstrate that the mechanical response of the polymer actuator with an embedded cable can be flexibly tuned through the targeted selection of actuator architecture. Various strategies, such as the addition of discrete or periodic stiff inserts, the sectioning of the actuator, or the shifting of the cable channel are employed to demonstrate ways to achieve more controllable deformed shape during weight lifting or reduce the required actuation force. To illustrate these concepts, we design and manufacture a prototype of the soft polymer gripper, which is capable of manipulating small, delicate objects. The explored strategies can be utilized in other types of soft actuators, employing, for instance, actuation by means of electroactive polymers. View Full-Text

Keywords: polymer actuator; soft robotics; soft machines; 3D printing; cable-driven actuation; gripper; soft composites; digital materials

▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary File 1:
ZIP-Document (ZIP, 20143 KiB)

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Slesarenko, V.; Engelkemier, S.; Galich, P.I.; Vladimirsky, D.; Klein, G.; Rudykh, S. Strategies to Control Performance of 3D-Printed, Cable-Driven Soft Polymer Actuators: From Simple Architectures to Gripper Prototype. Polymers 2018, 10, 846. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10080846

AMA Style

Slesarenko V, Engelkemier S, Galich PI, Vladimirsky D, Klein G, Rudykh S. Strategies to Control Performance of 3D-Printed, Cable-Driven Soft Polymer Actuators: From Simple Architectures to Gripper Prototype. Polymers. 2018; 10(8):846. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10080846

Chicago/Turabian Style

Slesarenko, Viacheslav, Seiji Engelkemier, Pavel I. Galich, Dmitry Vladimirsky, Gregory Klein, and Stephan Rudykh. 2018. "Strategies to Control Performance of 3D-Printed, Cable-Driven Soft Polymer Actuators: From Simple Architectures to Gripper Prototype" Polymers 10, no. 8: 846. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10080846

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Strategies to Control Performance of 3D-Printed, Cable-Driven Soft Polymer Actuators: From Simple Architectures to Gripper Prototype

Abstract

Supplementary Material

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI