Abstract
We design a compliant delta manipulator using 3D-printing and soft materials. Our design is different from the traditionally rigid delta robots as it is more accessible through low-cost 3D-printing, and can interact safely with its surroundings due to compliance. This work focuses on parallelogram links which are a key component of the delta robot design. We characterize these links over twelve dimensional parameters, such as beam and hinge thickness, and two material stiffness settings by displacing them, and observing the resulting forces and rotation angles. The parallelogram links are then integrated into a delta robot structure to test for delta mechanism behavior, which keeps the end-effector parallel to the base of the robot. We observed that using compliant hinges resulted in near-delta behavior, laying the groundwork for fabricating and utilizing 3D-printed compliant delta manipulators.
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Notes
- 1.
A living hinge is an articulated joint created by locally reducing the width of the material to make it more compliant in that region.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Avi Rudich, Anirudh Vemula, Ankit Bhatia, Tess Hellebrekers, and Keene Chin for their assistance and support. The research presented in this work was funded by National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-2024794 as well as an Amazon Research Award.
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Mannam, P., Kroemer, O., Temel, F.Z. (2021). Characterization of Compliant Parallelogram Links for 3D-Printed Delta Manipulators. In: Siciliano, B., Laschi, C., Khatib, O. (eds) Experimental Robotics. ISER 2020. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71151-1_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71151-1_7
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