Bio-inspired Tensegrity Soft Modular Robots

In this paper, we introduce a design principle to develop novel soft modular robots based on tensegrity structures and inspired by the cytoskeleton of living cells. We describe a novel strategy to realize tensegrity structures using planar manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing. We use this strategy to develop icosahedron tensegrity structures with programmable variable stiffness that can deform in a three-dimensional space. We also describe a tendon-driven contraction mechanism to actively control the deformation of the tensegrity mod-ules. Finally, we validate the approach in a modular locomotory worm as a proof of concept.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Living Machine conference 201

Hybrid optical and magnetic manipulation of microrobots

Microrobotic systems have the potential to provide precise manipulation on cellular level for diagnostics, drug delivery and surgical interventions. These systems vary from tethered to untethered microrobots with sizes below a micrometer to a few microns. However, their main disadvantage is that they do not have the same capabilities in terms of degrees-of-freedom, sensing and control as macroscale robotic systems. In particular, their lack of on-board sensing for pose or force feedback, their control methods and interface for automated or manual user control are limited as well as their geometry has few degrees-of-freedom making three-dimensional manipulation more challenging. This PhD project is on the development of a micromanipulation framework that can be used for single cell analysis using the Optical Tweezers as well as a combination of optical trapping and magnetic actuation for recon gurable microassembly. The focus is on untethered microrobots with sizes up to a few tens of microns that can be used in enclosed environments for ex vivo and in vitro medical applications. The work presented investigates the following aspects of microrobots for single cell analysis: i) The microfabrication procedure and design considerations that are taken into account in order to fabricate components for three-dimensional micromanipulation and microassembly, ii) vision-based methods to provide 6-degree-offreedom position and orientation feedback which is essential for closed-loop control, iii) manual and shared control manipulation methodologies that take into account the user input for multiple microrobot or three-dimensional microstructure manipulation and iv) a methodology for recon gurable microassembly combining the Optical Tweezers with magnetic actuation into a hybrid method of actuation for microassembly.Open Acces

모듈화 기반의 유연 소자 조립 방법 및 전자 피부 기술

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 전기·정보공학부, 2023. 2. 홍용택.일반적인 전자소자는 단단한 폼팩터로 인해 피부에 부착하여 활용하기에 쉽지 않다는 단점이 있다. 또한 외부의 충격으로 인해 기기가 쉽게 부서질 수 있다. 최근에는 이런 문제들을 해결하기 위해, 전자 소자 및 기기에 유연함을 부여하는 기술 개발이 활발히 이루어지고 있다. 먼저, 구부리거나 늘릴 수 있는 소프트 센서가 개발되었으며, 그에 따라서 사람의 피부에 센서 패치를 부착하고 사람의 맥박, 심전도 (ECG) 또는 근전도 (EMG)와 같은 생체 활성 신호를 보다 정확히 측정할 수 있게 되었다. 또한 이러한 센서 소자 다수를 유연 기판 위에 전기적으로 연결할 수 있는 유연 전극 제작 기술이 개발되었고, 덕분에 다기능의 통합된 센서 패치도 개발할 수 있었다. 최근의 유연 전자 소자나 기기도 현재 널리 사용되는 IC 칩으로 구성된 전기 회로를 활용하여 고성능의 데이터 처리를 수행하거나 빠른 속도로 데이터 전송을 할 수 있게 되었다. 이러한 기술이 가능한 이유는 FHE (flexible hybrid electronics) 또는 SHE (stretchable hybrid electronics) 기술의 발전 덕분이다. 이러한 하이브리드형 전자 소자 및 기기는 인쇄 기술로 제작된 유연 센서와 같은 구성 요소를 유연 전극을 통해 기존의 단단한 PCB 회로나 유연한 PCB 회로에 연결하는 기술로서, 기존의 고성능의 데이터 처리 능력과 유연 센서의 높은 민감도라는 두 장점을 모두 활용할 수 있는 장점이 있다. 본 논문에서는 SHE를 활용한 유연 모듈화 기반의 유연 전자 소자 조립 방법에 대해서 연구하였다. 시스템 수준의 유연 센서 통합 기기를 개발하기 앞서 개별 유연 센서 기술에 대한 연구를 진행하였다. 고민감도 유연 압력 센서를 기반으로 하는 두 가지 유형의 유연 센서를 제작하였고, 그 센서들의 특성을 조사하였다. 한 가지는 유연 3축 힘 센서이며, 다른 한가지는 신축에 영향을 받지 않는 압력 센서이다. 이러한 개별 센서 기술을 가상현실(VR)이나 증강현실(AR)에서 새로운 형태의 컨트롤러로 사용할 수 있는 유저 인터페이스 기술을 제시하였다. 또한 인체의 변형과 피부의 신축에 의해서도 민감도의 변화가 거의 없이 맥박을 읽어 들일 수 있는 센서도 제시하였다. 유연 센서의 신호 변화 범위에 맞는 Read-out회로를 설계하여 이를 위의 기술에 적용하였다. 본 논문에서는 개별 센서 및 회로에 대한 연구를 기반으로 위의 개별 요소들을 모듈화 기반의 유연 블록으로 탈바꿈하였다. SHE 기술의 Island-bridge 기술을 기반으로 센서, 데이터 처리 회로 등 기기 성능에 중심 역할을 하는 핵심 요소들을 단단한 열가소성 필름 상에 인쇄 및 제작하였다. 또한, 열가소성 필름과 유연 기판 사이에 중간층을 삽입하여 더 높은 변형에서도 유지되는 유연 모듈화 전자 블록을 개발하였다. 센서 블록, 회로 블록, 인터커텍트 블록으로 구성된 모듈화 블록들을 피부 위에서 빠르게 조립함으로써, 사용자마다 다른 신체 사이즈와 비율에 맞춤형으로 제작되는 웨어러블 기기를 완성할 수 있다. 기존의 고정된 설계로 제작되는 유연 전자소자는 사람마다 다른 신체 요인을 고려하지 않고 유일한 설계로 제작되기 대문에, 센서 정렬 오류와 같은 문제가 발생하고 신호를 읽는 데 정확도가 떨어지는 문제가 생길 수 있다. 위의 모듈화 블록 조립 방법은 한번 조립된 후, 분해될 수 없는 단점을 가지고 있다. 우리는 점착성을 갖고 높은 전도성 역시 갖는 접촉 패드 기술을 개발하여 위 기술을 개선하였다. 점착성 전도 패드는 PEIE와 PDMS, 그리고 자기 수직 정렬된 은 코팅 니켈 (AgNi) 입자의 혼합물이다. 이러한 패드가 형성된 FPCB를 유연 모듈화 전자 블록으로 사용하였고, 이 기술을 신축성을 갖는 인터커넥트 블록으로 연결하여 유연 기기를 완성할 수 있다. 이 기술은 조립과 동시에 기기가 완성되는 장점이 있어, 자라나는 소프트 로봇 바디에 맞게 자라나는 로봇 피부로서 활용이 가능하다. 본 논문에서는 우리의 기술이 미래에 웨어러블 기기나 피부 부착 가능한 기기에 적용될 수 있고, 그것들의 핵심 기술로 활용될 가능성을 확인하였다. 또한 전자 피부나 유연 로봇 피부로의 활용도도 제시하였다.General electronic devices feature rigid form factors, mismatching with the form factor of human skin, and vulnerability to deformation of the devices. Recently, in order to close this gap, techniques for imparting softness to electronics and devices have become considerably advanced. Soft sensors have been developed that can be bent or stretched; thus, they can be patched on human skin and measure bioactive signals such as human pulse, electrocardiography (ECG), or electromyography (EMG). In addition, soft interconnect manufacturing technology that can electrically connect these skin-attached sensor devices has been developed, and an integrated multi-functional sensor deceives also emerged. Soft electronics can also realize high-performance computing or data transmission by employing electric circuits using mature IC chips. Flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) and stretchable hybrid electronics (SHE) technologies have made these technologies possible. Hybrid-type electronics can be manufactured by connecting components such as printed soft sensors to rigid or soft circuits through soft interconnects. In this dissertation, we describe the assembly of soft modular electronic blocks using SHE. In addition, we have been conducting a study on individual soft sensor technology to develop a system-level soft sensor-integrated system. Based on a highly sensitive soft pressure sensor, two types of soft sensors were fabricated, and their characteristics are investigated: 1) Soft 3-axis force sensor and 2) stretching-insensitive pressure sensor. The applicability of these individual sensor technologies to a user interface that can be used as a controller of novel types of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) was confirmed. In addition, we demonstrated a sensor device that can read a pulse signal with a slight decrease in sensitivity even under human body deformation. Our soft sensor read-out circuits suitable for the specification or our sensor enable the above applications to be implemented. Based on the study of individual sensors and circuits, we conduct transforms of these individual elements into modularized blocks. The island-bridge technique of SHE technology was used, and key components that play a significant role in device performance, such as sensors and computation circuits, were printed on thermoplastic film. In addition, strain-engineered soft modular blocks were developed by inserting a strain-relief layer, an interlayer, between the thermoplastic film and the elastomeric substrate. Through our rapid on-skin soft modular electronic blocks (SMEBs) assembly of soft modular blocks of sensor blocks, circuit blocks, and interconnect blocks, we can create soft wearable flexion monitoring tailored to users with various body proportions and sizes. Because soft electronic devices with a fixed design are manufactured in a single design without considering the body factors that differ from person to person, issues such as sensor misalignment may occur, and signal acquisition accuracy may be degraded. Soft modular blocks above have limitations that can be disassembled. Through the development of sticky and highly conductive contact pad technology, we have made progress in SMEBs technology. The sticky contact pad is fabricated by using a composite of polyethylenimine ethoxylated (PEIE) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a sticky matrix and introducing vertically aligned silver-coated nickel (AgNi) particles inside the matrix during the curing process. The flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) on which the sticky contact pad is formed is used as a soft modular block. Soft devices can be made by electrically connecting those blocks via stretchable interconnect blocks. Utilizing this technology makes it possible to implement robotic skin technology to actuate soft robotics. Thanks to its reconfigurable feature, it can also be applied to a growing soft robot body. It can also be achieved by simply assembling interconnect blocks to new heater blocks without additional treatment. We demonstrated that our technologies could be utilized and be one of the key technologies for future wearable or skin-attachable applications. We also confirmed the feasibility of application to electronic skins or soft robotic skins.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Soft Electronics 1 1.2 Flexible/ Stretchable Hybrid Electronics 5 1.3 Modularized Electronic Blocks Assembly 8 1.4 Organization of this dissertation 10 Reference 12 Chapter 2. Soft pressure/3-axis sensors and their potential applications 15 2.1 Soft 3-Axis Force Sensors 15 2.1.1 Introduction 15 2.1.2 Results and Discussions 19 2.1.3 Potential Applications 25 2.1.4 Experimental Section 31 2.2 Stretching-insensitive Pressure Sensor 33 2.2.1 Introduction 33 2.2.2 Results and Discussions 36 2.2.3 Potential Application 43 2.2.4 Experimental Section 46 Chapter 3. Soft Modular Electronic Blocks (SMEBs) 50 3.1 Introduction 50 3.2 Soft Modular electronic blocks (SMEBs) 53 3.3 Mechanical and Electrical Stability of SMEBs 60 3.4 Application : Tailored Wearable Systems 68 3.5 Experimental section 79 Chapter 4. Reconfigurable and Reusable Soft Modular Electronic Blocks 90 4.1 Introduction 90 4.2 Reconfigurable and Reusable Soft Modular Electronic Blocks 93 4.3 Sticky Contact Pad Characteristics 97 4.4 Application: Electronic Skins 106 4.5 Experimental section 120 Chapter 5. Conclusion 127 Abstract in Korean 129박

A unified robotic kinematic simulation interface.

Robotic controller and application programming have evolved along with the application of computer technologies. A PC-based, open architecture controller, off-line programming and simulation system integrated in one-box solution presents the latest advancement in robotics. Open architecture controllers have been proven essential for all aspects of reconfiguration in future manufacturing systems. A Unified Reconfigurable Open Control Architecture (UROCA) research project is under way within the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) Centre at the University of Windsor. Applications are for industrial robotic, CNC, and automotive control systems. The UROCA proposed architecture is a reconfigurable system that takes the advantages of different control structure types, thereby integrating them in a way to enhance the controller architecture design. This research develops a graphical robotic simulation platform by creating an optimized object-oriented design. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .D56. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1474. Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

A Mobile Robot for Locomotion Through a 3D Periodic Lattice Environment

This paper describes a novel class of robots specifically adapted to climb periodic lattices, which we call 'Relative Robots'. These robots use the regularity of the structure to simplify the path planning, align with minimal feedback, and reduce the number of degrees of freedom (DOF) required to locomote. They can perform vital inspection and repair tasks within the structure that larger truss construction robots could not perform without modifying the structure. We detail a specific type of relative robot designed to traverse a cuboctahedral (CubOct) cellular solids lattice, show how the symmetries of the lattice simplify the design, and test these design methodologies with a CubOct relative robot that traverses a 76.2 mm (3 in.) pitch lattice, MOJO (Multi-Objective JOurneying robot). We perform three locomotion tasks with MOJO: vertical climbing, horizontal climbing, and turning, and find that, due to changes in the orientation of the robot relative to the gravity vector, the success rate of vertical and horizontal climbing is significantly different

The SwarmItFix Pilot

Abstract The paper presents the integration and experiments with a pilot cell including a traditional machine tool and an innovative robot-swarm cooperative conformable support for aircraft body panels. The pilot was installed and tested in the premises of the aircraft manufacturer Piaggio Aerospace in Italy. An original approach to the support of the panels is realized: robots with soft heads operate from below the panel; they move upward the panel where manufacturing is performed, removing the sagging under gravity and returning it to its nominal geometry; the spindle of amilling machine performs the machining from above

"Going back to our roots": second generation biocomputing

Researchers in the field of biocomputing have, for many years, successfully "harvested and exploited" the natural world for inspiration in developing systems that are robust, adaptable and capable of generating novel and even "creative" solutions to human-defined problems. However, in this position paper we argue that the time has now come for a reassessment of how we exploit biology to generate new computational systems. Previous solutions (the "first generation" of biocomputing techniques), whilst reasonably effective, are crude analogues of actual biological systems. We believe that a new, inherently inter-disciplinary approach is needed for the development of the emerging "second generation" of bio-inspired methods. This new modus operandi will require much closer interaction between the engineering and life sciences communities, as well as a bidirectional flow of concepts, applications and expertise. We support our argument by examining, in this new light, three existing areas of biocomputing (genetic programming, artificial immune systems and evolvable hardware), as well as an emerging area (natural genetic engineering) which may provide useful pointers as to the way forward.Comment: Submitted to the International Journal of Unconventional Computin

The Reconfigurable Machinery Efficient Workspace Analysis Based on the Twist Angles

A novel methodology for the calculation, visualisation and analysis of the Reconfigurable Machinery Efficient Workspace (RMEW), based on the twist angles, is presented in this paper. The machinery\u27s kinematic parameters are used for calculating the workspace, while the efficient workspace is associated with the machinery\u27s path and includes the end-effector position and orientation. To analyse and visualise many different machinery efficient workspaces at the same time, the calculation is based on the previously developed and validated complex reconfigurable machinery\u27s kinematic structure named n-DOF Global Kinematic Model (n-GKM). An industrial robot is used as an example to demonstrate an application of n-GKM model. It is calculated only for the tool\u27s perpendicular orientation relative to the floor. Four different kinematic configurations based on twist angles (αi) were selected to demonstrate the outcomes. Their graphical representations show how the twist angles significantly affect the shape and size of the efficient workspace. RMEW can be used as a design tool for new machinery\u27s kinematic structure and layout design. This methodology can be applied for any tool orientation