Get a Grip: Creating Soft Robotic Grippers via Self-Folding by Infrared Activation

Overview

This research investigates self-folding pre-strained polystyrene (PS) sheets into 3D devices that can grip and manipulate objects. Grippers are frequently used in robotics, particularly soft robotics, due to their flexible nature and ability to repeatably grasp small objects. When activated by an external stimulus (electricity, air/pressure, heat, etc.), soft grippers enclose and hold cargo as long as the external stimulus remains in place. Self-folding pre-strained PS grippers removes this limitation because when the external stimulus, infrared light (IR) in this case, is removed, they continue to hold their captured cargo. When IR light is absorbed in specific areas of the PS sheets, localized heating causes the polymer to reach its glass transition point, where segments of the polymers are free to move resulting in out-of-plane folding. With specific ink patterns, pre-strained PS films can fold without manual manipulation and transform 2D patterns into 3D shapes. Specifically, this research studies and optimizes the folding responses of PS with respect to geometry, ink placement, and ink density. The endurance, strength, and reproducibility of the PS grippers were studied as well. They were found to have better endurance and strength than previous soft robotic grippers; these devices were capable of withstanding ~1 kg of weight for several months or withstanding ≥ 24,000 times their own mass for shorter time spans. These results demonstrate that PS grippers can be used for holding, manipulating, and encapsulating objects.

Competition history

• AJAS 2019 Category not listed

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• AJAS None projects
• Every AJAS 2019 project