TY - GEN
T1 - Proposal of flexible robotic arm with thin McKibben actuators mimicking octopus arm structure
AU - Doi, Toshiyuki
AU - Wakimoto, Shuichi
AU - Suzumori, Koichi
AU - Mori, Kazuya
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 IEEE.
PY - 2016/11/28
Y1 - 2016/11/28
N2 - An octopus arm has no rigid structure, it is mostly composed of muscles aligned in various directions and the nerves. The muscles are roughly aligned in three directions, and by driving the muscles selectively, the octopus arm can perform multiple functions such as the contracting, bending, torsion and stiffness alteration. This study aims at the development of a new flexible robotic arm using thin McKibben actuators mimicking the muscle structure of an octopus arm. The McKibben actuator is a well-known pneumatic artificial muscle, and we have developed extremely thin McKibben actuators by using a braiding machine. In this paper, configuration of the flexible arm is proposed. The developed mechanism consists of thirty two thin McKibben actuators arranged in three directions, axial, radial and oblique, imitating the muscle structure of an actual octopus arm. The fundamental motion of the flexible arm is investigated experimentally. The proposed mechanism performs bending, contracting, torsion movements and stiffness alteration like an octopus arm.
AB - An octopus arm has no rigid structure, it is mostly composed of muscles aligned in various directions and the nerves. The muscles are roughly aligned in three directions, and by driving the muscles selectively, the octopus arm can perform multiple functions such as the contracting, bending, torsion and stiffness alteration. This study aims at the development of a new flexible robotic arm using thin McKibben actuators mimicking the muscle structure of an octopus arm. The McKibben actuator is a well-known pneumatic artificial muscle, and we have developed extremely thin McKibben actuators by using a braiding machine. In this paper, configuration of the flexible arm is proposed. The developed mechanism consists of thirty two thin McKibben actuators arranged in three directions, axial, radial and oblique, imitating the muscle structure of an actual octopus arm. The fundamental motion of the flexible arm is investigated experimentally. The proposed mechanism performs bending, contracting, torsion movements and stiffness alteration like an octopus arm.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006409725&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/IROS.2016.7759809
DO - 10.1109/IROS.2016.7759809
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85006409725
T3 - IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
SP - 5503
EP - 5508
BT - IROS 2016 - 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2016
Y2 - 9 October 2016 through 14 October 2016
ER -