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A Rigid and Soft Combined Robot that Is Designed to Be Used in Confined Spaces

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Robot Intelligence Technology and Applications 4

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 447))

Abstract

This article describes a rigid and soft combined robot that is designed to be used in confined spaces. The robot is based on pneumatically actuated peristaltic motion. This motion is accomplished by the use of a pair of pneumatic annular grippers in concert with a novel pneumatic soft actuator. The actuator is capable of actuation and it is made of soft material. So it can passively adapt to the outside passage, with this characteristic the robot can navigate through some constrained environments that would otherwise be inaccessible with conventional rigid actuators. The annular grippers consist of six scissor structures wrapped around the cylinder which can dramatically increase the maximum diameter of the grippers. So the robot can adapt its shape to external constraints and obstacles. The robot also contains a 2-DOF pneumatic soft joint that promises the robot capable of changing its direction actively.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, Jiangsu, China

    Xingsong Wang, Mengqian Tian, Jianfei Chen, Xiang Li & Yu Xiao

Authors
  1. Xingsong Wang
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  2. Mengqian Tian
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  3. Jianfei Chen
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  4. Xiang Li
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  5. Yu Xiao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xingsong Wang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, Daejeon, Korea (Republic of)

    Jong-Hwan Kim

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Fakhri Karray

  3. School of Information and Communication Technology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Jun Jo

  4. Center for Intelligent Technologies, Technical University of Kosice, Kosice, Slovakia

    Peter Sincak

  5. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, Daejeon, Korea (Republic of)

    Hyun Myung

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Cite this paper

Wang, X., Tian, M., Chen, J., Li, X., Xiao, Y. (2017). A Rigid and Soft Combined Robot that Is Designed to Be Used in Confined Spaces. In: Kim, JH., Karray, F., Jo, J., Sincak, P., Myung, H. (eds) Robot Intelligence Technology and Applications 4. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 447. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31293-4_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31293-4_36

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31291-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31293-4

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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