结构约束型可编程柔性跃变结构蒙皮设计

Design of structure-constrained programmable compliant skin based on snap-through elements

可编程柔性蒙皮在软体机器人、柔性电子和柔顺机构等领域具有重要的应用价值.然而,现有许多基于跃变结构蒙皮往往在进行力学阈值和工作行程设计时,存在阈值和行程耦合且设计参数空间有限等问题,限制了其在前述各个领域灵活应用.通过将约束结构引入跃变结构,本文提出了一种力学阈值和工作行程可同时编程的柔性结构蒙皮设计方法.首先,通过系统地表征基本跃变结构的力学阈值和工作行程与关键结构参数的关系,本文拟合了力学阈值和工作行程与结构参数的数学关系;进一步地,通过引入约束结构对其工作行程进行约束,建立了该约束结构的结构参数和工作行程的数学映射;最后,基于所提出的结构约束型可编程柔性跃变结构蒙皮,实现了在力学阈值几乎不变的条件下对蒙皮工作行程的精确调控,并验证了该方案对多级梯度行为调控的可行性.简而言之,本文所提出的方法极大简化了柔性蒙皮力学阈值和工作行程协同设计,拓宽了其设计参数空间,并使得跃变过程更加平顺,有助于实现柔性蒙皮在软体机器人、柔性电子等领域广泛灵活的应用.

Programmable compliant skin has important application value in the fields of soft robotics,flexible electronics,and compliant mechanics.The design of many existing skins based on snap-through elements has suffered from limited parameter design space and coupling of thresholds and strokes,which restrict their further applications in the aforementioned fields.In this paper,through the proposal of structure-constrained snap-through elements,a compliant skin with a simultaneously programmable force threshold and working stroke is proposed.By systematically characterizing the relationship between the structural parameters of the snap-through element and its force threshold and working stroke,a mathematical relation is derived between them.Furthermore,a constraint structure is introduced to solely regulate the stroke.Then,a mathematical mapping of its structural parameters and working stroke is established.Based on the proposed structure-constrained snap-through skin,precise regulation of the skin's working stroke can be realized under the condition that the mechanical threshold is nearly unchanged.Finally,the feasibility of our proposed method for the regulation of multilevel gradient behavior is further verified.Our proposed method decouples the codesign of the force threshold and working stroke and broadens the design space of compliant skins,making the snapthrough process smoother.Our method is thus beneficial for the broad application of compliant skins in the field of soft robotics and flexible electronics.