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Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots

Mobile millimeter and centimeter scale robots often use smart composite manufacturing (SCM) for the construction of body components and mechanisms. The fabrication of SCM mechanisms requires laser machining and laminating flexible, adhesive, and structural materials into small-scale hinges, transmis...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gao, Hang, Lynch, James, Gravish, Nick
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9502397/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36144112
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13091489
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author Gao, Hang
Lynch, James
Gravish, Nick
author_facet Gao, Hang
Lynch, James
Gravish, Nick
author_sort Gao, Hang
collection PubMed
description Mobile millimeter and centimeter scale robots often use smart composite manufacturing (SCM) for the construction of body components and mechanisms. The fabrication of SCM mechanisms requires laser machining and laminating flexible, adhesive, and structural materials into small-scale hinges, transmissions, and, ultimately, wings or legs. However, a fundamental limitation of SCM components is the plastic deformation and failure of flexures. In this work, we demonstrate that encasing SCM components in a soft silicone mold dramatically improves the durability of SCM flexure hinges and provides robustness to SCM components. We demonstrate this advance in the design of a flapping-wing robot that uses an underactuated compliant transmission fabricated with an inner SCM skeleton and exterior silicone mold. The transmission design is optimized to achieve desired wingstroke requirements and to allow for independent motion of each wing. We validate these design choices in bench-top tests, measuring transmission compliance, kinematics, and fatigue. We integrate the transmission with laminate wings and two types of actuation, demonstrating elastic energy exchange and limited lift-off capabilities. Lastly, we tested collision mitigation through flapping-wing experiments that obstructed the motion of a wing. These experiments demonstrate that an underactuated compliant transmission can provide resilience and robustness to flapping-wing robots.
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spelling pubmed-95023972022-09-24 Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots Gao, Hang Lynch, James Gravish, Nick Micromachines (Basel) Article Mobile millimeter and centimeter scale robots often use smart composite manufacturing (SCM) for the construction of body components and mechanisms. The fabrication of SCM mechanisms requires laser machining and laminating flexible, adhesive, and structural materials into small-scale hinges, transmissions, and, ultimately, wings or legs. However, a fundamental limitation of SCM components is the plastic deformation and failure of flexures. In this work, we demonstrate that encasing SCM components in a soft silicone mold dramatically improves the durability of SCM flexure hinges and provides robustness to SCM components. We demonstrate this advance in the design of a flapping-wing robot that uses an underactuated compliant transmission fabricated with an inner SCM skeleton and exterior silicone mold. The transmission design is optimized to achieve desired wingstroke requirements and to allow for independent motion of each wing. We validate these design choices in bench-top tests, measuring transmission compliance, kinematics, and fatigue. We integrate the transmission with laminate wings and two types of actuation, demonstrating elastic energy exchange and limited lift-off capabilities. Lastly, we tested collision mitigation through flapping-wing experiments that obstructed the motion of a wing. These experiments demonstrate that an underactuated compliant transmission can provide resilience and robustness to flapping-wing robots. MDPI 2022-09-07 /pmc/articles/PMC9502397/ /pubmed/36144112 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13091489 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gao, Hang
Lynch, James
Gravish, Nick
Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots
title Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots
title_full Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots
title_fullStr Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots
title_full_unstemmed Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots
title_short Soft Molds with Micro-Machined Internal Skeletons Improve Robustness of Flapping-Wing Robots
title_sort soft molds with micro-machined internal skeletons improve robustness of flapping-wing robots
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9502397/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36144112
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13091489
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