A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites

Compared to transmission systems based on shafts and gears, tendon-driven systems offer a simpler and more dexterous way to transmit actuation force in robotic hands. However, current tendon fibers have low toughness and suffer from large friction, limiting the further development of tendon-driven r...

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Main Authors: Pan, Liang, Wang, Fan, Cheng, Yuan, Leow, Wan Ru, Zhang, Yong-Wei, Wang, Ming, Cai, Pingqiang, Ji, Baohua, Li, Dechang, Chen, Xiaodong
Other Authors: School of Materials Science and Engineering
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137886
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author Pan, Liang
Wang, Fan
Cheng, Yuan
Leow, Wan Ru
Zhang, Yong-Wei
Wang, Ming
Cai, Pingqiang
Ji, Baohua
Li, Dechang
Chen, Xiaodong
author2 School of Materials Science and Engineering
author_facet School of Materials Science and Engineering
Pan, Liang
Wang, Fan
Cheng, Yuan
Leow, Wan Ru
Zhang, Yong-Wei
Wang, Ming
Cai, Pingqiang
Ji, Baohua
Li, Dechang
Chen, Xiaodong
author_sort Pan, Liang
collection NTU
description Compared to transmission systems based on shafts and gears, tendon-driven systems offer a simpler and more dexterous way to transmit actuation force in robotic hands. However, current tendon fibers have low toughness and suffer from large friction, limiting the further development of tendon-driven robotic hands. Here, we report a super tough electro-tendon based on spider silk which has a toughness of 420 MJ/m3 and conductivity of 1,077 S/cm. The electro-tendon, mechanically toughened by single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and electrically enhanced by PEDOT:PSS, can withstand more than 40,000 bending-stretching cycles without changes in conductivity. Because the electro-tendon can simultaneously transmit signals and force from the sensing and actuating systems, we use it to replace the single functional tendon in humanoid robotic hand to perform grasping functions without additional wiring and circuit components. This material is expected to pave the way for the development of robots and various applications in advanced manufacturing and engineering.
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spelling ntu-10356/1378862023-07-14T15:56:11Z A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites Pan, Liang Wang, Fan Cheng, Yuan Leow, Wan Ru Zhang, Yong-Wei Wang, Ming Cai, Pingqiang Ji, Baohua Li, Dechang Chen, Xiaodong School of Materials Science and Engineering Innovative Centre for Flexible Devices (iFLEX) Engineering::Materials Bioinspired Materials Polymers Compared to transmission systems based on shafts and gears, tendon-driven systems offer a simpler and more dexterous way to transmit actuation force in robotic hands. However, current tendon fibers have low toughness and suffer from large friction, limiting the further development of tendon-driven robotic hands. Here, we report a super tough electro-tendon based on spider silk which has a toughness of 420 MJ/m3 and conductivity of 1,077 S/cm. The electro-tendon, mechanically toughened by single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and electrically enhanced by PEDOT:PSS, can withstand more than 40,000 bending-stretching cycles without changes in conductivity. Because the electro-tendon can simultaneously transmit signals and force from the sensing and actuating systems, we use it to replace the single functional tendon in humanoid robotic hand to perform grasping functions without additional wiring and circuit components. This material is expected to pave the way for the development of robots and various applications in advanced manufacturing and engineering. NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore) ASTAR (Agency for Sci., Tech. and Research, S’pore) MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore) Published version 2020-04-17T04:20:02Z 2020-04-17T04:20:02Z 2020 Journal Article Pan, L., Wang, F., Cheng, Y., Leow, W. R., Zhang, Y.-W., Wang, M., . . . Chen, X. (2020). A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites. Nature Communications, 11, 1332-. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14988-5 2041-1723 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137886 10.1038/s41467-020-14988-5 11 en Nature Communications © 2020 The Author(s) (Nature Publishing Group). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. application/pdf
spellingShingle Engineering::Materials
Bioinspired Materials
Polymers
Pan, Liang
Wang, Fan
Cheng, Yuan
Leow, Wan Ru
Zhang, Yong-Wei
Wang, Ming
Cai, Pingqiang
Ji, Baohua
Li, Dechang
Chen, Xiaodong
A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites
title A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites
title_full A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites
title_fullStr A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites
title_full_unstemmed A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites
title_short A supertough electro-tendon based on spider silk composites
title_sort supertough electro tendon based on spider silk composites
topic Engineering::Materials
Bioinspired Materials
Polymers
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137886
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