A Novel Soft Robot Based on Organic Materials: Finite Element Simulation and Precise Control

Considering the inherent safety and high flexibility, soft robot is drawing extensive attention from both industry and academics. Soft robots made of organic materials show the merits of considerably low cost and ease of fabrication. But, the precise control of soft robot is still of great challenge. A sophisticated understanding of the motion mechanics of organic soft robot is essential for accurate control of this type of robot. In this paper, PDMS/PEDOT:PSS system, which is developed for soft robot, is modelled and simulated using finite element method. Through parameters tuning, the dependences of PDMS/PEDOT:PSS system deformation on layer thicknesses and electrical current are acquired and compared with the experimental results available in reference. Furthermore, we proposed a three layer structure for soft robot, and investigated the relationship between deformation of this structure and layer thicknesses. Our work proposed an approach for precise control for soft robot through a combination of finite element simulation and experiment data. Additionally, the three layer structure we proposed is demonstrated to be a promising solution for high response speed soft robot.