3D pneumatically actuated crocheted soft robots for biomedical applications
Marina Gómez (TNW-BE)
Abstract
Soft robots benefit from the incorporation of textiles and fibers in their design and fabrication, serving a wide range of purposes such as defining the robot's behavior, deformations, and capabilities. Among various textile fabrication methods, crocheting techniques offer a unique avenue for exploring the mechanical properties of textiles. Different stitch patterns, yarns, and tension can be used to determine factors such as tensile strength, flexibility, and anisotropy, providing valuable insights into the fabric's performance characteristics. Furthermore, the research benefits from the innovative fact that there is limited literature on the field of crocheted pneumatically actuated soft robots. While knitted ones have been more explored and seem promising, crocheted fabrics themselves withstands higher loads and larger elongations than knitted fabrics.
The primary objective of this research is to explore the potential of crochet techniques for creating intricate fiber patterns that allow bending, extension, and compression within the realm of soft robotics systems. Investigation, classification, and characterization of various crochet patterns is conducted to obtain a mechanical perspective and theoretical model, that helps predict the behavior of the resulting structure. An open-source 3D crochet interface is used to enhance visualization purposes and reproducibility of the structures.
All the theoretical knowledge comes together to demonstrate the innovative application of using crochet as a fabrication method to create pneumatically actuated (i.e. air-tight structures) soft robots. Some examples are finger-like gripper, toroidal gripper mimicking the motion of a heart valve, locomotion prototypes such as crawling/climbing worms, and an assistive glove designed to reduce required force.