A High-Deformation Electric Soft Robotic Gripper Via Handed
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A High-Deformation Electric Soft Robotic Gripper via Handed Shearing Auxetics by Lillian Tiffany Chin B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2017) Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2019 ○c Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2019. All rights reserved. Author................................................................ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science May 16, 2019 Certified by. Daniela Rus Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, CSAIL Director Thesis Supervisor Accepted by . Leslie A. Kolodziejski Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Chair, Department Committee on Graduate Students 2 A High-Deformation Electric Soft Robotic Gripper via Handed Shearing Auxetics by Lillian Tiffany Chin Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science on May 16, 2019, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Abstract This thesis describes the development of a new class of electrically-driven soft robotic actuators built from handed shearing auxetics (HSAs). Soft robots – robots made out of more compliant materials such as rubber and sili- cone – are significantly more robust and safer than their rigid-bodied counterparts due to their intrinsic compliance. However, existing soft robots are mostly fluid-driven, causing them to be significantly more energy inefficient, susceptible to puncture and limited in controllability. To address these issues, we use HSAs to create compliant actuators without the inherent issues of pneumatic actuation. Through analysis of planar symmetry groups, we add chirality to shearing auxetic patterns, creating materials that expand with a handed bias when pulled in tension. This new metamaterial design enables us to create new structures that have a strong coupling between twisting and extension, letting us use traditional electric-based motors to get linear motion. In this thesis, we explain the theory behind this new class of auxetics, demonstrate how HSAs can be coupled to form compliant linear actuators, and characterize the actuators’ performance in a variety of applications. This work culminates in an electrically driven soft robotic gripper which is significantly smaller, more energy efficient and more puncture resistant than existing pneumatic soft robotic grippers. Thesis Supervisor: Daniela Rus Title: Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Com- puter Science, CSAIL Director 3 4 Acknowledgments Although the mythos of the lone hero scientist is an enduring one, research is a social endeavor. These acknowledgments are inadequate for both listing everyone who helped me as well as the extent of their help. My advisor, Daniela Rus, has been invaluable not only as an expert in technical in- novation and narrative building, but also as a role model as a female leader in STEM. Her drive to keep the gradient in both the technical and community aspects helped create a familial atmosphere in the lab. Every day, I was blessed with Ryan Truby and John Romanishin’s technical expertise, Andy Spielberg and Brandon Araki’s dry wit, and Mieke Moran’s kind logistical wizardry. A particularly special thanks goes to Jeffrey Lipton, for mentoring me as a SuperUROP onwards. I really appreciated our rapid-fire discussions from technical ideas to baby updates. The lab atmosphere, of course, echoed the support I received outside of lab. My parents, Lih-Shen Chin and Lian Li, have been there for me ever since I could crawl into their lab and bother their graduate students. I would not be here without their unwavering support of my scientific interests. The entire _house clan – Ava Chen, Wesley Lau, Kris Kim, and Jonah Ko – really helped me survive the day-to-day trials and tribulations of graduate school, whether it was the personal attacks, home- cooked dinners, or guinea pig feedings. Rachel Holladay and the rest of chilly-lin@ / spicy-ren@ provided the clutch save by volunteering to turn this thesis in. Finally, I’d like to thank James Rowan for the late-night phone calls, the philo- sophical musings, and the past five years of commitment. This work was done in the Distributed Robotics Laboratory at MIT with sup- port from The Boeing Company, Amazon, JD, the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), the NASA Space Technology Research Grant NNX13AL38H, and the National Sci- ence Foundation – grant numbers EFRI-1240383, IIS-1226883, CCF-1138967, and #1830901. I was personally supported under the National Science Foundation Grad- uate Research Fellowship grant #1122374, the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. 5 6 Contents 1 Introduction 15 1.1 Thesis Organization . 18 2 Background 21 2.1 Soft Robotics . 21 2.1.1 Actuators . 21 2.1.2 Grippers . 24 2.2 Auxetics . 24 2.2.1 Auxetics in Robotics . 25 2.2.2 Handed Shearing Auxetics . 25 3 Actuator Design 29 3.1 Paired Chiralities . 29 3.2 Materials, Methods and Fabrication . 31 3.2.1 Material Selection . 31 3.2.2 Fabrication . 32 3.2.3 System Integration . 33 3.3 Actuator Applications . 34 4 Gripper Design 37 4.1 Constraint Layers . 37 4.2 Fabrication and System Integration . 38 7 5 Experimental Results and Characterization 41 5.1 Characterization of Actuator . 41 5.2 Characterization of Gripper . 44 5.3 Comparison to Pneumatic Soft Gripper . 46 5.3.1 Mechanical Performance . 47 5.3.2 Grasping Performance . 51 5.3.3 Power Efficiency . 53 6 Discussion 55 6.1 Lessons Learned . 56 6.2 Future Work . 57 A Code 59 8 List of Figures 1-1 The use of (A) handed shearing auxetics allow us to create a novel class of compliant electric actuators, with applications as diverse as (B) linear actuators, (C) a four degree-of-freedom robotic platform, and (D) a robotic gripper. 17 2-1 Overview examples of the auxetic trajectories for conventional auxet- ics, shear auxetics and handed shearing auxetics. As 휃 varies (arc in blue), the auxetic pattern expands and contracts, with maximum ex- pansion occuring at 휃max. While the top two auxetic classes have mirror symmetry at 휃max, the bottom two do not, allowing those classes to maintain a single chirality throughout their trajectory. Figure origi- nally appeared in [30] . 27 3-1 Schematic of how pairing handed shearing auxetics of different hand- edness create an actuator. If we constrain the pair on the top and counterrotate the cylinders against each other, each tube will expand, leading to bulk extension. 30 3-2 (A) Demonstration of a linear actuator made from handed shearing auxetics. Through a series of gears driven by a conventional servo motor, the two cylinders counterrotate against each other, creating extension. (B) This linear actuator is also quite compliant, allowing it to benefit from greater environmental interaction. 34 9 3-3 Demonstration of the full four degrees of freedom of the robotic plat- form. By composing two left-handed and two right-handed shearing auxetics, the platform can rotate in all directions as well as extend, depending on which cylinders are actuated. Figure originally appeared in [30] . 35 3-4 When the handed shearing auxetic (HSA) cylinders are overactuated, helical instability can occur where the cylinders twist in on themselves. This typically happens when either (A) the HSAs approach their state of maximal expansion or (B) when an external constraint adds extra force to the system. 36 4-1 Demonstration of how (A) adding a constraint layer to the base handed shearing auxetic pattern causes out of plane bending fingers. The red circles show the diagonal constraint while the blue circles show the end cap top constraint. (B) Shots from head-on and (C) in profile reveal how the constraint layer goes from a diagonal wrap to a straight internal radius of the bending circle. 39 4-2 Overview of the gripper design. Each finger is made out of a pair of handed shearing auxetic cylinders that can bend out of plane. These actuators are driven by a motor to bend. A silicone glove, palm, and neoprene foam add more points of contact and friction. Figure origi- nally appeared in [9]. 40 5-1 Cyclic tensile loading of a handed shearing auxetic cylinder when ro- tation is allowed (red curve) and when the cylinder is held in place (blue curve). When rotation is allowed, significantly lower stiffness is reported (193 ± 0.3 N/m vs. 285 ± 0.7 N/m), revealing how the HSA naturally couples twisting with extension. 42 5-2 Motion capture results of the movement of a handed searing auxetic actuator pair with an added constraint layer to enable out-of-plane bending. Figure originally appeared in [11] . 45 10 5-3 (A) Overview of pneumatic and handed shearing auxetic-based grip- pers, alongside their driving hardware. Closeups of the (B) pneumatic hand and (C) handed shearing auxetic grippers reveal their different morphologies and grapsing behavior. Figure originally appeared in [9]. 46 5-4 Demonstration of puncture resistance of a handed shearing auxetic gripper. (A) Normal operation is indistinguishable from (B) the grip- per after repeated laceration damage or (C) repeated puncture damage. Figure originally appeared in [10] . 50 5-5 Array of objects used in grasp testing. (A) Objects successfully grasped by both grippers. (B) Objects only grasped by the handed shearing auxetic based gripper. (C) Objects only grasped by the pneumatic gripper. (D) Objects that were not able to be grasped by either gripper. Figure originally appeared in [9] . 52 11 12 List of Tables 5.1 Mechanical Properties of Handed Shearing Auxetic Actuators . 43 5.2 Comparison of Pneumatic vs. Handed Shear Auxetic Grippers . 48 13 14 Chapter 1 Introduction Soft robotic manipulators offer great promise for increased human-robot interaction.