Modelling a novel design of soft grippers actuated by smart hydrogel

Master thesis (2023)

Authors

J.P. Schoenmakers Mechanical Engineering

Contributors

J. Jovanova Transport Engineering and Logistics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (mentor)
Qianyi Chen Transport Engineering and Logistics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (mentor)
Faculty
Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Copyright: © 2023 Jeffrey Schoenmakers
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Published Date

26-09-2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

mart materials are already often used as actuator or sensors, as well in soft grippers as other fields. However, the application of thermoresponsive smart materials as actuator is still a potential field. As electroactive polymers and shape memory alloys are commonly used thermoresponsive smart materials for actuators in soft grippers, a novel design will contribute to this area by adding a new potential field: soft grippers actuated by thermoresponsive hydrogel particles. A structure, filled with thermoresponsive hydrogel particles which will swell after decreasing the temperature, will act as a gripper. After considering the relevant
parameters of soft grippers for this research, multiple demo structures are manufactured and compared with simulations. Additionally, the effect of these parameters on the bending performance is determined with
a Design of Experiments. At last, a potential configuration of a multi segmented adaptive soft grippers is presented.