- University of Sheffield engineers have developed a new type of valve that could make soft robots more resilient to damage.
- Soft robots are made of flexible materials that can bend and deform – this makes them suitable for working with humans or operating underwater, in space or even inside the human body as medical tools.
- However, the robots’ flexible materials make them more susceptible to damage
- The new valve enables robots to regulate their internal pressure and automatically isolate an explosion to prevent damage from spreading
A new type of valve that makes soft robots more resilient to damage has been developed by engineers at the University of Sheffield.
Reported in Science Robotics and developed by Dr Marco Pontin and Dr Dana Damian from the University’s School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, the new valve can automatically isolate damaged parts of a robot from the rest of the system. This prevents damage from spreading and allows the robot to continue working.
Soft robots are made of flexible materials that can bend and deform. This makes them suitable for tasks that would be difficult or dangerous for traditional robots, such as working in delicate environments or interacting with people. However, their flexible materials make them more susceptible to damage.
The valve works by using air pressure to control the flow of fluids through the robot. It can be used in two different ways:
- Forward operation mode: In this mode, the valve can isolate a punctured part of the robot in just 21 milliseconds. This prevents the leak from causing further damage and allows the robot to continue operating.
- Reverse operation mode: In this mode, the valve can protect the robot from excessive pressure, which may cause the robot to explode.
The valve can also be used in a combined mode that allows the robot to adjust its internal pressure and thus autonomously deploy to contain an explosion. It is small and lightweight and can be easily integrated into existing soft robot designs. This makes it a promising solution for improving the robustness of soft robots and expanding their potential applications.
Dr Dana Damian, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, said: “Soft robots hold the promise of being able to operate and work near or within humans as medical tools, and their resilience to errors is a feature Adopting the robustness mechanism we have come up with is suitable not only to extend the operating life of these robots, but also to reduce their size, complexity and cost, because the isolation or prevention of the defect is passively caused in Our valve of these soft robots is embedded in their body structure, which is what we call embodied intelligence.”
Dr Marco Pontin, research assistant in soft and resilient machines at the University of Sheffield and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, said: “Resistance is essential for the self-preservation of biological systems. Our new valve mimics this in robotic technologies soft. giving them a way to respond to harm and protect themselves passively.”
The study, Multimodal Soft Valve Enables Physical Feedback for Preventive Elasticity of Soft Robots, is published in Science Robotics. Read the letter.
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