1. P16227 – INFLATABLE ROBOTIC HAND
Team Members:
Name
Major
Role
Travis Emery
Mechanical Engineer
External Communications
Andres Ulloa
Biomedical Engineer
Project Manager
Timothy Kremers
Lead Engineer
Shehan Jayasekera
Internal Communications
Lucas Prilenski
Electrical Engineer
Purchasing
Guide: Art North
Client: Dr. Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard
Sponsor: The Boeing Company
From Left: Travis, Shehan, Tim, Andres, Lucas
Project Objective:
Create an arm and hand mechanism that can inflate out, pick and move an object, and deflate back. The arm and hand should have a small profile until inflated. Inflation must and actuation force must utilize air only. The hand must at least vaguely resemble a human hand with at least three fingers. The arm and hand mechanism must also be mounted on a moveable platform (i.e. vehicle) and both the mechanism and platform must be controllable remotely. The expected result is a functional prototype that can pick up a standard tennis ball.
Subsystems
Key Features
Handled by
Control
Power supply, motor and solenoid drivers, microcontroller
Lucas Prilenski, Andres Ulloa
Navigation
Motor and wheels, frame structure and mounting
Timothy Kremers
Force Actuation
Arm and finger, air compressor, solenoid valves, pressurized air storage
Travis Emery, Shehan Jayasekera
Objective Summary:
Arm and hand can inflate, pick up tennis ball, deflate
Actuation force provided by pressurized air
All components (arm, hand, and vehicle) can be remotely controlled by user
Design Choices:
Control
Control Interface: Xbox360 Controller
Signal Transmission: Radio
Control Board: Arduino MEGA
Battery: 12V Lead-Acid
Navigation
Ground Interface: Wheels
Propulsion: Motor
Positioning/Steering: front wheel drive
Force Actuation
Arm and Hand
Hand: 3 fingers
Arm: 4-channel cells (2 DOF)
Flow Loop
Pressurization: Air Compressor
Flow Regularization: Solenoid Valves and pressure regulators
Deflation via decompression
Arm/Hand Design and Fabrication:
Arm
Arm made from many layers; each layer has 4 air chambers (aka channels)
Each channel can be inflated
Arm molds* for the arm cells were made from PlexiGlass
Arm material: Smooth-On DragonSkin®
Fingers
Molds for the finger were 3D printed with the aid of designs taken from Soft Robotics Toolkit*
Finger material: Smooth-On DragonSkin®
Flow Loop Design and Assembly:
Single portable air compressor for pressurizing storage tank
Air from storage tank used to actuate arm and fingers
Air flow controlled by solenoid valves
Valve set-up allows for each arm channel and finger to be inflated and deflated individually
Pressure regulators put in place to reduce output pressures to arm and fingers
All components rated to at least 100psi (operation pressure range ~40psi)
System can be depressurized via valve A; Arm and hand can be deflated by releasing air thru the 2-way solenoid valve
Chassis/Frame Assembly:
Frame size: 2ft by 1.5ft
Locomotion is handled by 4 wheels and 2 motors (rear wheel drive)
Motor driver: Cytron MDD10A
Floor clearance: 4in
Surface platform will hold arm/hand, air compressor, air tank, flow loop, battery, and circuitry
Project EDGE Page:
References:
Soft Robotics Toolkit
Arm Cell Design