Elephant's trunk robot: an extremely versatile under-actuated continuum robot driven by a single motor

TY - JOUR

T1 - Elephant's trunk robot: an extremely versatile under-actuated continuum robot driven by a single motor

AU - Liu, Yuwang

AU - Ge, Zhuang

AU - Yang, Shangkui

AU - Walker, Ian D.

AU - Ju, Zhaojie

PY - 2019/10/1

Y1 - 2019/10/1

N2 - Continuous-bodied “trunk and tentacle” robots have increased self-adaptability and obstacle avoidance capabilities, compared with traditional, discrete-jointed, robots with large rigid links. In particular, continuous-bodied robots have obvious advantages in grasping objects across a wide range of external dimensions. Not only can they grasp objects using end effectors like traditional robots, but their bodies can also be regarded as a gripping device, and large objects with respect to the robot’s scale can be captured by the entire structure of the robots themselves. Existing trunk-like robots have distributed multi-drive actuation, and are often manufactured using soft materials, which leads to a complex actuator system that also limits their potential applications in dangerous and extreme environments. This paper introduces a new type of elephant's trunk robot with very few driving constraints. The robot consists of a series of novel under-actuated linkage units. With a single motor drive, the robot can achieve stable grasping of objects of different shapes and sizes. The proposed robot simplifies the requirements of the sensing and control systems during the operation process, and has the advantage of accomplishing the capture task without determining the exact shape and position of the target object. It is especially suitable for operations such as non-cooperative target capture in extremely dangerous environments, including those in outer space. Based on theoretical analysis and model design, a trunk robot prototype was developed, and a comprehensive experimental study of the bending/extension and grasping operation functions was conducted to verify the validity of the proposed robot design.

AB - Continuous-bodied “trunk and tentacle” robots have increased self-adaptability and obstacle avoidance capabilities, compared with traditional, discrete-jointed, robots with large rigid links. In particular, continuous-bodied robots have obvious advantages in grasping objects across a wide range of external dimensions. Not only can they grasp objects using end effectors like traditional robots, but their bodies can also be regarded as a gripping device, and large objects with respect to the robot’s scale can be captured by the entire structure of the robots themselves. Existing trunk-like robots have distributed multi-drive actuation, and are often manufactured using soft materials, which leads to a complex actuator system that also limits their potential applications in dangerous and extreme environments. This paper introduces a new type of elephant's trunk robot with very few driving constraints. The robot consists of a series of novel under-actuated linkage units. With a single motor drive, the robot can achieve stable grasping of objects of different shapes and sizes. The proposed robot simplifies the requirements of the sensing and control systems during the operation process, and has the advantage of accomplishing the capture task without determining the exact shape and position of the target object. It is especially suitable for operations such as non-cooperative target capture in extremely dangerous environments, including those in outer space. Based on theoretical analysis and model design, a trunk robot prototype was developed, and a comprehensive experimental study of the bending/extension and grasping operation functions was conducted to verify the validity of the proposed robot design.

KW - robots

KW - motors

KW - engines

KW - grasping

KW - shapes

KW - design

KW - control systems

KW - dimensions

KW - engineering prototypes

KW - linkages

U2 - 10.1115/1.4043923

DO - 10.1115/1.4043923

M3 - Article

VL - 11

JO - Journal of Mechatronics and Robotics

JF - Journal of Mechatronics and Robotics

SN - 2617-0345

IS - 5

M1 - 051008

ER -