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The actuation and control of a bioinspired origami manipulator

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Abstract

Origami is a traditional art initiated in China, and then, it has been widely used in Japan. Nowadays, many studies oriented on soft-body robotics have focused on origami patterns, since the most significant characteristics of origami robotic systems are compliant and lightweight. And it is well known to all that origami art can emulate some living patterns, such as paper cranes, snakes, and insects. Those we call bioinspired mechanisms can be combined with origami pattern design perfectly. The manipulator used in this paper originated from the elephant trunk, which is a remarkable tool to manipulate diverse objects dexterously despite their dimension, structure, or weight. By applying origami patterns and fabrication, I made a manipulator that can transform from a simple planar plane to a complicated 3D structure with extremely lightweight, reliable compactness, scalable configuration, and a single degree of freedom. Moreover, to combine three such manipulators and make a grasper and realize the simultaneous curling motion of the three “fingers,” I designed a corresponding actuation system and analyzed its capability by theoretical modeling and simulation.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and System Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

    Xuanang Chen

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  1. Xuanang Chen
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X.C. contributed to the design and methodology of this study, the assessment of the outcomes, and the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xuanang Chen.

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Chen, X. The actuation and control of a bioinspired origami manipulator. Soft Comput (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-023-08106-y

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