An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors
This paper proposes a method for accurate 3D posture sensing of the soft actuators, which could be applied to the closed-loop control of soft robots. To achieve this, the method employs an array of miniaturized sponge resistive materials along the soft actuator, which uses long short-term memory (LS...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/13/6189 |
| _version_ | 1797590815250317312 |
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| author | Jing Shu Junming Wang Kenneth Chik-Chi Cheng Ling-Fung Yeung Zheng Li Raymond Kai-yu Tong |
| author_facet | Jing Shu Junming Wang Kenneth Chik-Chi Cheng Ling-Fung Yeung Zheng Li Raymond Kai-yu Tong |
| author_sort | Jing Shu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper proposes a method for accurate 3D posture sensing of the soft actuators, which could be applied to the closed-loop control of soft robots. To achieve this, the method employs an array of miniaturized sponge resistive materials along the soft actuator, which uses long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks to solve the end-to-end 3D posture for the soft actuators. The method takes into account the hysteresis of the soft robot and non-linear sensing signals from the flexible bending sensors. The proposed approach uses a flexible bending sensor made from a thin layer of conductive sponge material designed for posture sensing. The LSTM network is used to model the posture of the soft actuator. The effectiveness of the method has been demonstrated on a finger-size 3 degree of freedom (DOF) pneumatic bellow-shaped actuator, with nine flexible sponge resistive sensors placed on the soft actuator’s outer surface. The sensor-characterizing results show that the maximum bending torque of the sensor installed on the actuator is 4.7 Nm, which has an insignificant impact on the actuator motion based on the working space test of the actuator. Moreover, the sensors exhibit a relatively low error rate in predicting the actuator tip position, with error percentages of 0.37%, 2.38%, and 1.58% along the x-, y-, and z-axes, respectively. This work is expected to contribute to the advancement of soft robot dynamic posture perception by using thin sponge sensors and LSTM or other machine learning methods for control. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:28:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d7c3bb4186294d56a06576860c0c4e74 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:28:49Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-d7c3bb4186294d56a06576860c0c4e742023-11-18T17:31:52ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202023-07-012313618910.3390/s23136189An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive SensorsJing Shu0Junming Wang1Kenneth Chik-Chi Cheng2Ling-Fung Yeung3Zheng Li4Raymond Kai-yu Tong5Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, ChinaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, ChinaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR 999077, ChinaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, ChinaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, ChinaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, ChinaThis paper proposes a method for accurate 3D posture sensing of the soft actuators, which could be applied to the closed-loop control of soft robots. To achieve this, the method employs an array of miniaturized sponge resistive materials along the soft actuator, which uses long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks to solve the end-to-end 3D posture for the soft actuators. The method takes into account the hysteresis of the soft robot and non-linear sensing signals from the flexible bending sensors. The proposed approach uses a flexible bending sensor made from a thin layer of conductive sponge material designed for posture sensing. The LSTM network is used to model the posture of the soft actuator. The effectiveness of the method has been demonstrated on a finger-size 3 degree of freedom (DOF) pneumatic bellow-shaped actuator, with nine flexible sponge resistive sensors placed on the soft actuator’s outer surface. The sensor-characterizing results show that the maximum bending torque of the sensor installed on the actuator is 4.7 Nm, which has an insignificant impact on the actuator motion based on the working space test of the actuator. Moreover, the sensors exhibit a relatively low error rate in predicting the actuator tip position, with error percentages of 0.37%, 2.38%, and 1.58% along the x-, y-, and z-axes, respectively. This work is expected to contribute to the advancement of soft robot dynamic posture perception by using thin sponge sensors and LSTM or other machine learning methods for control.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/13/6189soft roboticssoft sensorsflexible porous structuresdeep learninglong short-term memory |
| spellingShingle | Jing Shu Junming Wang Kenneth Chik-Chi Cheng Ling-Fung Yeung Zheng Li Raymond Kai-yu Tong An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors Sensors soft robotics soft sensors flexible porous structures deep learning long short-term memory |
| title | An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors |
| title_full | An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors |
| title_fullStr | An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors |
| title_full_unstemmed | An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors |
| title_short | An End-to-End Dynamic Posture Perception Method for Soft Actuators Based on Distributed Thin Flexible Porous Piezoresistive Sensors |
| title_sort | end to end dynamic posture perception method for soft actuators based on distributed thin flexible porous piezoresistive sensors |
| topic | soft robotics soft sensors flexible porous structures deep learning long short-term memory |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/13/6189 |
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