A Bioinspired Stress-Response Strategy for High-Speed Soft Grippers.

Journal: Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
PMID: 34473423

Abstract

The stress-response strategy is one of the nature's greatest developments, enabling animals and plants to respond quickly to environmental stimuli. One example is the stress-response strategy of the Venus flytrap, which enables such a delicate plant to perceive and prey on insects at an imperceptible speed by their soft terminal lobes. Here, inspired by this unique stress-response strategy, a soft gripper that aims at the challenges of high-speed dynamic grasping tasks is presented. The gripper, called high-speed soft gripper (HSG), is based on two basic design concepts. One is a snap-through instability that enables the HSG to sense the mechanical stimuli and actuating instantly. The other one is the spider-inspired pneumatic-powered control system that makes the trigger process repeatable and controllable. Utilizing the stress-response strategy, the HSG can accomplish high-speed sensing and grasping and handle a dynamic grasping task like catching a thrown baseball. Whereas soft machines typically exhibit slow locomotion speed and low manipulation strength for the intrinsic limitations of soft materials, the exploration of the stress-response strategy in this study can help pave the way for designing a new generation of practical high-speed soft robots.

Authors

  • Yangqiao Lin
    State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
  • Chao Zhang
    School of Information Engineering, Suqian University, Suqian, Jiangsu, China.
  • Wei Tang
    Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery Division, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Zhongdong Jiao
    State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
  • Jinrong Wang
    State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
  • Wei Wang
    State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau 999078, China.
  • Yiding Zhong
    State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
  • Pingan Zhu
    State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
  • Yu Hu
    Institute of Hematology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
  • Huayong Yang
  • Jun Zou
    State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.

Keywords

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