Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe Interaction
Soft robots present an avenue toward unprecedented societal acceptance, utility in populated environments, and direct interaction with humans. However, the compliance that makes them attractive also makes soft robots difficult to control. We present two low-cost approaches to control the motion of s...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/9/1116 |
| _version_ | 1797534872609226752 |
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| author | Dongshuo Li Vaishnavi Dornadula Kengyu Lin Michael Wehner |
| author_facet | Dongshuo Li Vaishnavi Dornadula Kengyu Lin Michael Wehner |
| author_sort | Dongshuo Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Soft robots present an avenue toward unprecedented societal acceptance, utility in populated environments, and direct interaction with humans. However, the compliance that makes them attractive also makes soft robots difficult to control. We present two low-cost approaches to control the motion of soft actuators in applications common in human-interaction tasks. First, we present a passive impedance approach, which employs restriction to pneumatic channels to regulate the inflation/deflation rate of a pneumatic actuator and eliminate the overshoot/oscillation seen in many underdamped silicone-based soft actuators. Second, we present a visual servoing feedback control approach. We present an elastomeric pneumatic finger as an example system on which both methods are evaluated and compared to an uncontrolled underdamped actuator. We perturb the actuator and demonstrate its ability to increase distal curvature around the obstacle and maintain the desired end position. In this approach, we use the continuum deformation characteristic of soft actuators as an advantage for control rather than a problem to be minimized. With their low cost and complexity, these techniques present great opportunity for soft robots to improve human–robot interaction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:35:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-799af8796b7d49c7bf1c1efa8cefc6ac |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:35:41Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-799af8796b7d49c7bf1c1efa8cefc6ac2023-11-21T18:52:39ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922021-05-01109111610.3390/electronics10091116Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe InteractionDongshuo Li0Vaishnavi Dornadula1Kengyu Lin2Michael Wehner3Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USASoft robots present an avenue toward unprecedented societal acceptance, utility in populated environments, and direct interaction with humans. However, the compliance that makes them attractive also makes soft robots difficult to control. We present two low-cost approaches to control the motion of soft actuators in applications common in human-interaction tasks. First, we present a passive impedance approach, which employs restriction to pneumatic channels to regulate the inflation/deflation rate of a pneumatic actuator and eliminate the overshoot/oscillation seen in many underdamped silicone-based soft actuators. Second, we present a visual servoing feedback control approach. We present an elastomeric pneumatic finger as an example system on which both methods are evaluated and compared to an uncontrolled underdamped actuator. We perturb the actuator and demonstrate its ability to increase distal curvature around the obstacle and maintain the desired end position. In this approach, we use the continuum deformation characteristic of soft actuators as an advantage for control rather than a problem to be minimized. With their low cost and complexity, these techniques present great opportunity for soft robots to improve human–robot interaction.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/9/1116soft robothuman–robot interactioncontrol |
| spellingShingle | Dongshuo Li Vaishnavi Dornadula Kengyu Lin Michael Wehner Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe Interaction Electronics soft robot human–robot interaction control |
| title | Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe Interaction |
| title_full | Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe Interaction |
| title_fullStr | Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe Interaction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe Interaction |
| title_short | Position Control for Soft Actuators, Next Steps toward Inherently Safe Interaction |
| title_sort | position control for soft actuators next steps toward inherently safe interaction |
| topic | soft robot human–robot interaction control |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/9/1116 |
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