Stiffness Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Soft Cardiac Fixator Flexible Arm with Granular Jamming

Gao, Likun; He, Yanlin; Zhu, Hangwei; Sun, Guangkai; Zhu, Lianqing

doi:10.3390/machines9120303

Open AccessArticle

Stiffness Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Soft Cardiac Fixator Flexible Arm with Granular Jamming

by

Likun Gao

^1,2,

Yanlin He

^1,2,*,

Hangwei Zhu

^1,2,

Guangkai Sun

^1,2 and

Lianqing Zhu

^1,2

¹

Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Optoelectronic Measurement Technology and Instrument, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100192, China

²

Beijing Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and System, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing 100016, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Machines 2021, 9(12), 303; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines9120303

Submission received: 28 October 2021 / Revised: 19 November 2021 / Accepted: 19 November 2021 / Published: 23 November 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Underwater Robot Technology)

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Abstract

To meet the practical application requirements of cardiac fixation during off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery, a soft cardiac fixator with a flexible arm was previously designed. To enable the soft cardiac fixator to adapt to uncertain external forces, this study evaluates the variable-stiffness performance of the flexible arm. First, the flexible arm was simplified as a soft silicone manipulator measuring 60 mm × 90 mm × 120 mm, which can actuate, soften, or stiffen independently along the length of the arm by combining granular jamming with input pressure. Then, the soft manipulator was modelled as a cantilever beam to analyse its variable-stiffness performance with granular jamming. Next, based on theoretical analysis and calculations, many experiments were conducted to evaluate the variable-stiffness performance of the soft manipulator. The experimental results demonstrated that the variable-stiffness performance is influenced by the flexible arm length, the size of the granules, and the input pressure.

Keywords: soft surgical robot; cardiac fixation; flexible arm; variable stiffness; granular jamming

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MDPI and ACS Style

Gao, L.; He, Y.; Zhu, H.; Sun, G.; Zhu, L. Stiffness Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Soft Cardiac Fixator Flexible Arm with Granular Jamming. Machines 2021, 9, 303. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines9120303

AMA Style

Gao L, He Y, Zhu H, Sun G, Zhu L. Stiffness Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Soft Cardiac Fixator Flexible Arm with Granular Jamming. Machines. 2021; 9(12):303. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines9120303

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gao, Likun, Yanlin He, Hangwei Zhu, Guangkai Sun, and Lianqing Zhu. 2021. "Stiffness Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Soft Cardiac Fixator Flexible Arm with Granular Jamming" Machines 9, no. 12: 303. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines9120303

APA Style

Gao, L., He, Y., Zhu, H., Sun, G., & Zhu, L. (2021). Stiffness Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Soft Cardiac Fixator Flexible Arm with Granular Jamming. Machines, 9(12), 303. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines9120303

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Stiffness Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Soft Cardiac Fixator Flexible Arm with Granular Jamming

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