Abstract
The worm-like robots are capable of imitating the amazing locomotion of the long and thin creature. This paper presents a novel centimeter-scale worm robot inspired by a kirigami-fold which is a variation of origami with helical motion. The body structure is extracted from the kirigami structure and its motion characteristics are analyzed in terms of kinematic principles. This leads to identification of the capability of the segmented worm robot with integrated parallel kirigami structures to imitate contracting motion, omega-shaped bending motion and twisting motion of the locomotion in nature. A prototype of the worm robot with three segments is fabricated with paper-made body structure and actuated by shape-memory-alloy (SMA) coil springs. The robot is lightweight and can be used in confined environments for detection and inspection. The study creates a new approach of integrating SMA actuators in origamienabled parallel kinematic structures for the development of compliant and miniaturized robots including the presented worm robot.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | 38th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference |
| Publisher | American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) |
| Volume | 5B |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780791846377 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2014 |
| Event | ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2014 - Buffalo, United States Duration: 17 Aug 2014 → 20 Aug 2014 |
Conference
| Conference | ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2014 |
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| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Buffalo |
| Period | 17/08/2014 → 20/08/2014 |