Design and Control of Soft Manipulator Based on the Liquid-vapor Transition Mechanism

doi:10.3901/JME.2022.18.205

Abstract

Abstract: Traditional soft manipulators demonstrate several shortcomings, such as small working space, inaccurate deformation model and position tracking control. In this paper, a three-joint soft manipulator based on liquid-vapor actuator is fabricated, modeled and tested. Firstly, a nonlinear mechanical model considering the gravity and temperature of the silicone material is proposed to achieve accurate bending model of the manipulator. The working space of the manipulator is analyzed using D-H coordinate method. Secondly, a kinematics inverse solution method based on the minimum actuating energy function is used to determine the bending angel of each join for the manipulator. Finally, a hybrid control strategy by combining the minimum actuating energy function and radial basis function neural network is developed to control the position of manipulator. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method leads to accurate position tracking results. In conclusion, the design and control method proposed in this paper may provide an alternative to soft manipulators in the future.

Key words: soft manipulator, actuator based on liquid-vapor mechanism, position tracking control

CLC Number:

TP241

SUN Minjie, CHEN Songyu, LI Junfeng, HUANG Yongan. Design and Control of Soft Manipulator Based on the Liquid-vapor Transition Mechanism[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2022, 58(18): 205-217.

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