MODEL BUILDING METHOD FOR VARIABLE-STIFFNESS SOFT ROBOT

摘要

A model building method for a variable-stiffness soft robot comprises: step 1, designing a locking force between filler particles; step 2, calculating an equivalent pressure in a thin film tube (31); step 3, establishing a correspondence relationship between the locking force and a vacuum pressure in the thin film tube (31); step 4, designing a locking torque of a particle block; step 5, establishing a correspondence relationship between the locking torque and a hardness of small spherical particles (35); and step 6, calculating a deformation angle of the thin film tube (31). The method treats all filler particles (34, 35) in the thin film tube (31) and the thin film tube (31) as an integrated particle block, considers the small spherical particles (35) as an equivalent of a fluid and the thin film tube (31) as an equivalent of a closed space, and establishes a Hertzian sphere-plane contact model. Models for the locking force and the locking torque are established according to the Hertz contact theory and a Hertzian two-sphere contact model. In this way, the invention enables control of the stiffness of the variable-stiffness soft robot, and the established model is reliable since the result obtained by variable-stiffness characteristic simulation is consistent with the model.