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Recent Advances and Future Trends in Flexible Robots
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Recent Advances and Future Trends in Flexible Robots

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensors and Robotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2022) | Viewed by 7802

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Fujun Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Interests: micro/nano manipulation robot; flexible actuator and robot; flexible mechanism system; electromechanical system dynamics and control; precise positioning and manipulation; precision manufacturing of equipment and technology
Dr. Yanling Tian

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Interests: multiscale robotics and automation; compliant mechanisms; measurement and characterisation; mechanical system dynamics and control; micro/nano scale fabrication; functional surfaces and interfaces; laser ablation and lithography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yanding Qin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Artificial Intelligence, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
Interests: flexure-based mechanism; micro/nanomanipulation; hysteresis modeling and compensation; laser-based measurement; mechanical dynamics; three-dimensional bioprinting; super-resolution microscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Cunman Liang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
Interests: micro/nano manipulation; micro/nano positioning; flexible electronics; micro transfer printing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Flexible robots have been widely used in fields such as ultra-precision manipulation and fabrication, micro/nano characterization, and biomedical engineering. Flexure-based mechanisms, flexible robots, soft robots, and their applications are hotspots in academia and industry. Precision motion and force sensing are very important for flexible robots. Meanwhile, there are still some challenges in terms of the design and modeling, actuation and sensing method, and control strategy. Accordingly, this Special Issue seeks to show research papers, communications, and review articles that focus on the latest results and findings in flexible robots and systems, sensors for flexible systems, soft robot systems, and their applications.

Prof. Dr. Fujun Wang
Prof. Dr. Yanling Tian
Prof. Dr. Yanding Qin
Dr. Cunman Liang
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. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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

  • flexible robots
  • flexure-based mechanisms
  • soft robots
  • control strategy
  • actuation method
  • motion and force sensors
  • biomimetic design
  • ultra-precision manipulation and fabrication

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 10159 KiB  
Article
Design, Fabrication, and Performance Test of a New Type of Soft-Robotic Gripper for Grasping
by Hongjie Zhang, Wenwen Liu, Ming Yu and Yanyan Hou
Sensors 2022, 22(14), 5221; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22145221 - 13 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2661
Abstract
This investigation presents a novel soft-robotic pneumatic gripper that consists of three newly proposed soft actuators. The newly proposed soft actuators adopt a composite structure of two kinds of pneumatic networks which can work independently and play their respective roles in grasping. The [...] Read more.
This investigation presents a novel soft-robotic pneumatic gripper that consists of three newly proposed soft actuators. The newly proposed soft actuators adopt a composite structure of two kinds of pneumatic networks which can work independently and play their respective roles in grasping. The design, analyses, and fabrication of the proposed soft actuators are introduced systematically, and then an experimental system is built to examine the output characteristics of the soft actuator. Compared with the conventional single pneumatic network-based soft actuator, the newly proposed one combines the advantages of the two pneumatic networks, and it employs a larger output force and retains desired bending deformation ability at the same time. The grasping performance test results show that the new soft gripper constituted by the proposed soft actuators has high reliability and stability whether in pinching or in enveloping grasping, and it is also competent for grasping heavier or irregular objects, demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the newly proposed soft actuator, and giving it a good and wide application prospect. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Future Trends in Flexible Robots)
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17 pages, 4184 KiB  
Article
Modeling and Analysis of a Composite Structure-Based Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Soft-Robotic Gripper
by Ming Yu, Wenwen Liu, Jian Zhao, Yanyan Hou, Xuewu Hong and Hongjie Zhang
Sensors 2022, 22(13), 4851; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22134851 - 27 Jun 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2323
Abstract
Soft pneumatic actuators are extensively used in soft robots, and their bending angles and kinematic rules at different pressures play a crucial role in practical applications. This investigation aims to model the bending angle and motion of a new type of soft pneumatic [...] Read more.
Soft pneumatic actuators are extensively used in soft robots, and their bending angles and kinematic rules at different pressures play a crucial role in practical applications. This investigation aims to model the bending angle and motion of a new type of soft pneumatic actuator that adopts a composite structure consisting of two kinds of pneumatic networks. Based on the structural and deformation characteristics of the proposed soft actuator, the constitutive model is established, and then the moment equilibrium and virtual work principle are combined to model the bending angle of two pneumatic modules. The kinematic model of the proposed soft actuator is co-opted from the kinematic modeling of rigid robots. By employing the piecewise constant curvature method and coordinate transformation, the location of any chamber of the soft actuator can be calculated. The effectiveness of the developed analytical models is then tested, and the calculated results show good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, three soft actuators are used to constitute a soft gripper, and the pinching and enveloping grasping performance are examined. All experimental test results demonstrate that the developed bending angle and kinematic models can explain the bending principle of the proposed soft actuators well. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Future Trends in Flexible Robots)
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15 pages, 3625 KiB  
Article
Active Model-Based Hysteresis Compensation and Tracking Control of Pneumatic Artificial Muscle
by Yanding Qin, Haoqi Zhang, Xiangyu Wang and Jianda Han
Sensors 2022, 22(1), 364; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22010364 - 04 Jan 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2085
Abstract
The hysteretic nonlinearity of pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) is the main factor that degrades its tracking accuracy. This paper proposes an efficient hysteresis compensation method based on the active modeling control (AMC). Firstly, the Bouc–Wen model is adopted as the reference model to [...] Read more.
The hysteretic nonlinearity of pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) is the main factor that degrades its tracking accuracy. This paper proposes an efficient hysteresis compensation method based on the active modeling control (AMC). Firstly, the Bouc–Wen model is adopted as the reference model to describe the hysteresis of the PAM. Secondly, the modeling errors are introduced into the reference model, and the unscented Kalman filter is used to estimate the state of the system and the modeling errors. Finally, a hysteresis compensation strategy is designed based on AMC. The compensation performances of the nominal controller with without AMC were experimentally tested on a PAM. The experimental results show that the proposed controller is more robust when tracking different types of trajectories. In the transient, both the overshoot and oscillation can be successfully attenuated, and fast convergence is achieved. In the steady-state, the proposed controller is more robust against external disturbances and measurement noise. The proposed controller is effective and robust in hysteresis compensation, thus improving the tracking performance of the PAM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Future Trends in Flexible Robots)
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