Actuators Technologies for the Next Generation of Robots and Industry

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2021) | Viewed by 9672

Special Issue Editors

Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Vitoria 29075-910, Brazil
Interests: optical fiber sensors; fiber Bragg gratings; polymer optical fibers; instrumented insoles; interferometers; movement analysis; actuators; robotic systems; IoT; data processing; machine learning algorithms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Vitoria 29075-910, Brazil
Interests: wearable robotics; sensor technologies; actuator; soft robotics; data processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Actuators are crucial components in any mechatronic system, have experienced major growth throughout the years, especially given the increasing demands on human–robot interaction systems for different applications, such as industry, rehabilitation robotics, social robots, and smart structures. In this context, novel actuator technologies such as soft actuators (including polymeric, fluidics, and series elastic actuators) and others compliant actuators have been proposed with varying degrees of success. This Special Issue invites contributions dealing with the research and development of compliant actuators—including design, control, applications, and modeling—which constitute the backbone of the next generation of robots and industry.

Prof. Dr. Arnaldo Leal Junior
Prof. Dr. Anselmo Frizera Neto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soft robotics
  • rehabilitation robotics
  • bio-inspired design
  • compliant actuators
  • human–robot interaction
  • controllable stiffness actuators
  • actuator design, modeling, and control

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

8 pages, 1654 KiB  
Communication
Highly Stretchable Polymer Optical Fiber for Mechanical Sensing in Artificial Tendons: Towards Novel Sensors for Soft Robotics
by Arnaldo G. Leal-Junior, Wagner Coimbra, Carlos Marques and Anselmo Frizera
Actuators 2020, 9(4), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/act9040125 - 30 Nov 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2541
Abstract
The control of tendon-driven actuators is mainly affected by the tendon behavior under stress or strain. The measurement of these parameters on artificial tendons brings benefits on the control and novel approaches for soft robotics actuators. This paper presents the development of polymer [...] Read more.
The control of tendon-driven actuators is mainly affected by the tendon behavior under stress or strain. The measurement of these parameters on artificial tendons brings benefits on the control and novel approaches for soft robotics actuators. This paper presents the development of polymer optical fiber sensors fabricated through the light spinning polymerization process (LPS-POF) in artificial tendons. This fiber has exceptionally low Young’s modulus and high strain limits, suitable for sensing applications in soft structures. Two different configurations are tested, indicating the possibility of measuring strain and stress applied in the tendon with determination coefficients of 0.996 and 0.994, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuators Technologies for the Next Generation of Robots and Industry)
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22 pages, 21326 KiB  
Article
An Open-Source Social Robot Based on Compliant Soft Robotics for Therapy with Children with ASD
by Diego Casas-Bocanegra, Daniel Gomez-Vargas, Maria J. Pinto-Bernal, Juan Maldonado, Marcela Munera, Adriana Villa-Moreno, Martin F. Stoelen, Tony Belpaeme and Carlos A. Cifuentes
Actuators 2020, 9(3), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/act9030091 - 20 Sep 2020
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6263
Abstract
Therapy with robotic tools is a promising way to help improve verbal and nonverbal communication in children. The robotic tools are able to increase aspects such as eye contact and the ability to follow instructions and to empathize with others. This work presents [...] Read more.
Therapy with robotic tools is a promising way to help improve verbal and nonverbal communication in children. The robotic tools are able to increase aspects such as eye contact and the ability to follow instructions and to empathize with others. This work presents the design methodology, development, and experimental validation of a novel social robot based on CompliAnt SofT Robotics called the CASTOR robot, which intends to be used as an open-source platform for the long-term therapy of children with autism spectrum disorder (CwASD). CASTOR integrates the concepts of soft actuators and compliant mechanisms to create a replicable robotic platform aimed at real therapy scenarios involving physical interaction between the children and the robot. The validation shows promising results in terms of robustness and the safety of the user and robot. Likewise, mechanical tests assess the robot’s response to blocking conditions for two critical modules (i.e., neck and arm) in interaction scenarios. Future works should focus on the validation of the robot’s effectiveness in the therapy of CwASD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Actuators Technologies for the Next Generation of Robots and Industry)
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