Soft-morphing, deformation control by fabric structures, and soft-jumping mechanisms using magnetic yield points are studied. The durability and adaptability of existing rigid-base jumping mechanisms are improved by a soft-morphing process that employs the residual stress of a polymer. Although rigid body-based jumping mechanisms are used, they are driven by multiple components and complex structures. Therefore, they have drawbacks in terms of shock durability and fatigue accumulation. To improve these problems, soft-jumping mechanisms are designed using soft polymer materials and soft-morphing techniques with excellent shock resistance and environmental adaptability. To this end, a soft jumping mechanism is designed to store energy using the air pressure inside the structure, and the thickness of the polymer layer is adjusted based on the method applied for controlling the polymer freedom and residual stress deformation. The soft jumping mechanism can transfer energy more efficiently and stably using an energy storage and release mechanism and the rounded ankle structure is designed using soft morphing. Therefore, the soft morphing and mechanisms of energy retention and release were applied to fabricate a soft robot prototype that can move in the desired direction and jump; the performance experiment was carried out.
Related papers and patents
Gang Hyun Jeon, and Yong-Jai Park, "Soft jumping robot using soft morphing and the yield point of magnetic force," Applied Sciences, Vol. 11, No. 13, Art. No 13, June 2021.