Our group currently focuses on pneumatic and vacuum-based designs for building new types of large-scale soft robots. These robots will be used for handling large yet fragile objects and to interact with humans in their house or used to take care of them. We focus on design solutions to augment the capabilities of these robots.

Jumping Tensegrity Robot
The addition of a twist during the manufacturing of shape memory alloy coil gives them a higher performance. This new type of SMA coil was then implemented in a jumping tensegrity robot.

 

Published in:
Yoon Seop Chung, Ji-Hyeong Lee, Jae Hyuck Jang, Hyouk Ryeol Choi and Hugo Rodrigue, 2019, “Jumping Tensegrity Robots based on Torsionally Pre-strained SMA Springs ,” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 11, No. 43, pp. 40793-40799.

 

Paired Pouch Motors for Robotic Applications
The pairing of pouch motors or serial pneumatic artificial muscles (sPAMs) can be used to increase their performance in terms of displacement and force. This simple concept was used for the actuation of a simple robotic arm.

 

Published in:
Namsoo Oh, Yeong Jae Park, Seongbok Lee, Haneol Lee, and Hugo Rodrigue, Published online ahead of print, “Design of Paired Pouch Motors for Robotic Applications,” Advanced Materials Technologies.

 

Origami-based Vacuum Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (OV-PAM)
A vacuum-based soft linear actuator was developed capable of deformations up to 99.7% of their length and of lifting payloads up to 40 kg. This actuator has a large potential for robotic applications.

 

Published in:
Jin-Gyu Lee and Hugo Rodrigue, 2019, “Origami-based Vacuum Pneumatic Artificial Muscles with Large Contraction Ratios,” Soft Robotics, Vol. 6, No. 1.

Altair Coutinho, JinGyu Lee, and Hugo Rodrigue,
“Development of a Positive-Negative Pneumatic Artificial Muscle,”
International Symposium on Precision Engineering and Sustainable Manufacturing (PRESM2020), 2020, Vol. 0, No. 0, pp. 15~ 18

Jae Hyuck Jang, Nam Soo Oh, and Hugo Rodrigue
“Linear Brake Integrated Gusseted Pouch Using Positive and Negative Pressure,”
International Symposium on Precision Engineering and Sustainable Manufacturing (PRESM2020), 2020, Vol. 0, No. 0, pp. 15~ 18

Namsoo Oh, Haneol Lee and Hugo Rodrigue
“Development of a Pre-twisting Based Inflatable Torsional Actuator for Robotic Application,”
Ubiquitous Robots (UR 2020), 2020-06, Vol. 0, No. 0, pp. 22~ 26