Although soft robots promise to provide unsurpassed dexterity, their usage is limited due to their lack of stiffness. This statement may seem paradoxical, however as discussed by [1], softness comes at a price of load bearing capacity. Soft materials cannot transfer or sustain forces effectively. Thus manipulation and interaction with the environment becomes challenging. This has made means of varying stiffness an active field of research [2]. This work presents the integration of a soft surgical robot (Stiff-Flop [3]) with stiffening fibers made by Low Melting Point Alloy (LMPA). A preliminary analysis shows a marked increase in the stiffness of the module.
Low Melting Point Alloy Based Stiffening of a Soft Robot
Abidi
;Matteo Cianchetti;Arianna Menciassi
2017-01-01
Abstract
Although soft robots promise to provide unsurpassed dexterity, their usage is limited due to their lack of stiffness. This statement may seem paradoxical, however as discussed by [1], softness comes at a price of load bearing capacity. Soft materials cannot transfer or sustain forces effectively. Thus manipulation and interaction with the environment becomes challenging. This has made means of varying stiffness an active field of research [2]. This work presents the integration of a soft surgical robot (Stiff-Flop [3]) with stiffening fibers made by Low Melting Point Alloy (LMPA). A preliminary analysis shows a marked increase in the stiffness of the module.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
