A novel soft microgripper using divided-electrode type flexible ER valves

For maintenance microrobots for small diameter pipes in power plants and so on, a novel microgripper using divided-electrode type flexible electro-rheological valves (DE-FERVs) was proposed and developed. Each bendable finger consisted of the DE-FERV and a hydraulic rubber actuator and was several m...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kazuhiro YOSHIDA, Souta HARA, Sang In EOM, Shinichi YOKOTA
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/d7f954842f224cf7a4ada681b54b0866
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:For maintenance microrobots for small diameter pipes in power plants and so on, a novel microgripper using divided-electrode type flexible electro-rheological valves (DE-FERVs) was proposed and developed. Each bendable finger consisted of the DE-FERV and a hydraulic rubber actuator and was several millimeters long. The DE-FERV had an axially divided parallel plate electrode pairs in a flexible tube. Each parallel plate electrode pair controlled the electro-rheological fluid (ERF) flow by changing the viscosity with the electric field. The DE-FERV had both high flexibility and sufficient pressure control range. The hydraulic rubber actuator had plural integrated walls inside to restrict its radial expansion and axially extended by the inner pressure controlled by the DE-FERV. A finger large model was fabricated and experimentally characterized. Then, a gripper having two fingers was constructed and the object handling was demonstrated.