Soft robots have become important members of the robot community with many potential applications owing to their unique flexibility and security embedded at the material level.An increasing number of researchers are inter-ested in their designing,manufacturing,modeling,and control.However,the dynamic simulation of soft robots is difficult owing to their infinite degrees of freedom and nonlinear characteristics that are associated with soft materials and flexible geometric structures.In this study,a novel multi-flexible body dynamic modeling and simulation tech-nique is introduced for soft robots.Various actuators for soft robots are modeled in a virtual environment,including soft cable-driven,spring actuation,and pneumatic driving.A pneumatic driving simulation was demonstrated by the bending modules with different materials.A cable-driven soft robot arm prototype and a cylindrical soft module actuated by shape memory alley springs inspired by an octopus were manufactured and used to validate the simula-tion model,and the experimental results demonstrated adequate accuracy.The proposed technique can be widely applied for the modeling and dynamic simulation of other soft robots,including hybrid actuated robots and rigid-flexible coupling robots.This study also provides a fundamental framework for simulating soft mobile robots and soft manipulators in contact with the environment.

Liang Ding;Lizhou Niu;Yang Su;Huaiguang Yang;Guangjun Liu;Haibo Gao;Zongquan Deng

State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems,Harbin Institute of Technol-ogy,Harbin 150001,China;Department of Aerospace Engineering,Ryerson University,Toronto,ON M5B 2K3,Canada

中国机械工程学报

[1]Liang Ding;Lizhou Niu;Yang Su;Huaiguang Yang;Guangjun Liu;Haibo Gao;Zongquan Deng-.Dynamic Finite Element Modeling and Simulation of Soft Robots)[J].中国机械工程学报,2022(02):45-55

ested,alley,octopus

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