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Pneumatically controlled backward movement of a vine robot
Design and fabrication of a retraction device for an everting vine robot, enabling backwards movement. Mechanism ideally is pneumatically or electrically driven and fits within the existing vine robot.
A 2019 focus project called RoBoa developed a search and rescue robot that locomotes by everting a tube. This vine robot has the ability to evert into tight and enclosed spaces and search for victims that got entrapped within a collapsed structure. A retraction mechanism of the vine robot was out-of-scope for the initial project, but has now become a crucial requirement for fully enabling the technology during realistic deployments that require repeated retraction. A retraction device was developed in a scope of a bachelor thesis which delivered a proof of concept.
An already proposed retraction principle is an electric motor driving two rollers in the head which pull the tube backwards to lower the tension behind the head attachment. Lowering the tension of the tube is necessary to prevent buckling. The drawbacks of this early-stage prototype are primarily its large current consumption, high weight, and bulk.
The aim of this project is to design a retraction device using either a pneumatically-driven mechanism or a more energy efficient electrical drive mechanism. The drive has to be designed in a miniaturized form so it fits in the existing robot’s dimensions. The drive can be based on any already proposed actuator principle that outputs a rotary motion, for example a turbine or fluidic muscles driven by the existing pneumatic supply.
A 2019 focus project called RoBoa developed a search and rescue robot that locomotes by everting a tube. This vine robot has the ability to evert into tight and enclosed spaces and search for victims that got entrapped within a collapsed structure. A retraction mechanism of the vine robot was out-of-scope for the initial project, but has now become a crucial requirement for fully enabling the technology during realistic deployments that require repeated retraction. A retraction device was developed in a scope of a bachelor thesis which delivered a proof of concept.
An already proposed retraction principle is an electric motor driving two rollers in the head which pull the tube backwards to lower the tension behind the head attachment. Lowering the tension of the tube is necessary to prevent buckling. The drawbacks of this early-stage prototype are primarily its large current consumption, high weight, and bulk.
The aim of this project is to design a retraction device using either a pneumatically-driven mechanism or a more energy efficient electrical drive mechanism. The drive has to be designed in a miniaturized form so it fits in the existing robot’s dimensions. The drive can be based on any already proposed actuator principle that outputs a rotary motion, for example a turbine or fluidic muscles driven by the existing pneumatic supply.
- Understand current solution as it was proposed in the bachelor thesis by Yves Haberthür and Samuel Sigrist (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TUfnlmDVBk&t=31s)
- Development of a pneumatic or electrical drive mechanism for retraction
- Miniaturization of all parts of the retraction device to fit within the RoBoa
- Implementation of the mechanism into the robot
- Understand current solution as it was proposed in the bachelor thesis by Yves Haberthür and Samuel Sigrist (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TUfnlmDVBk&t=31s)
- Development of a pneumatic or electrical drive mechanism for retraction
- Miniaturization of all parts of the retraction device to fit within the RoBoa
- Implementation of the mechanism into the robot
- Various 3D printing and related rapid prototyping techniques
- CAD systems (preferably Siemens NX)
- Precision machine design with focus on rapid prototyping
- The functionalities of pneumatic and electrical drives
- Closed-loop control systems
- Various 3D printing and related rapid prototyping techniques
- CAD systems (preferably Siemens NX)
- Precision machine design with focus on rapid prototyping
- The functionalities of pneumatic and electrical drives
- Closed-loop control systems
SRL: Prof. Robert Katzschmann, rkk@ethz.ch, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, D-MAVT
RoBoa: Yves Haberthür, yvesha@ethz.ch, D-MAVT
SRL: Prof. Robert Katzschmann, rkk@ethz.ch, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, D-MAVT