The research team of Professor Shingo Maeda of the Department of Mechanical and Functional Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology, and Yu Kuwashima of the doctoral course at the same graduate school has a compact design of a "soft robot" that is adapted to people's daily lives and has safety. I have continued my research aiming for silent drive.It is expected that the mounting of sensors on soft robots will bring about multi-functionality, but the problems are the complexity and size of wiring.In addition, the fluid system used for soft robots is generally driven by a large, heavy, and noisy pump, which hinders the weight reduction and miniaturization of soft robots.

 Under these circumstances, this team has succeeded in developing an "electrochemical dual transducer (ECDT)" that can drive and detect the fluid of a soft robot without using complicated parts. ECDT is a simple, lightweight, quiet, and sensing pump powered by an electrochemical reaction. A soft robot using ECDT can operate a "self-sensing" actuation that senses the flow of fluid and thereby activates an electrochemical reaction to increase the current, achieving quietness, compactness, and weight reduction. Leads to.

 ECDT is a development of the "electrohydrodynamic" (EHD) pump previously developed by the team that creates a flow in a dielectric fluid by an electrochemical reaction.It is composed of symmetrical arrangements of planar electrodes, and the direction of flow can be easily controlled by simply changing the voltage, so it can be manufactured without the need for special equipment or complicated processing.

 The sensing mechanism was clarified by mathematical modeling, and in the demonstration experiment, the sensing performance was evaluated by driving the suction cup with ECDT to detect the object, grasping it, and releasing it.

 This technology is expected to contribute to the development of soft robots that have both functionality and miniaturization.

Paper information:[ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces] Electrochemical Dual Transducer for Fluidic Self-Sensing Actuation

Shibaura Institute of Technology

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Shibaura Institute of Technology will celebrate its 2027th anniversary in 100.With a system of 4 departments and 16 course in 1 faculties, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Systems Science and Engineering, Faculty of Design Engineering, and Faculty of Architecture, "Data Science Courses" will be introduced in all faculties from 2020, and there are so many research fields that they are called "Science and Engineering University". I am proud of.Each student […]

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