Folding for stiffening
Electro-adhesive layer jamming clutches are an emerging type of active variable stiffness technique for soft robots. They are structurally simple, light in weight, respond rapidly to electic fields and consume low power. Current designs of clutches mainly adopt a planar configuration. These stacks of layers, when jammed result in a large change in stiffness. However, they are limited in their ability to withsand forces from multiple directions. We are exploring the use of geometry modifications such as folding to improve the stiffness of these clutches in multiple directions.
Our first work on using folding, in collaboration with Dr Chongjing Cao’s group at the Shenzhen Insitute of Advanced Technologies, was published at the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO). Access the paper on the publisher’s website.