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Project

Investigation of self-healing actuators for Robotics (FWOTM784)

Last 15 years, a wide range of self-healing (SH) materials has been developed and recently these materials are increasingly used in applications in different fields, like the automotive industry and aerospace. However, so far this technology is not yet explored in robotics. The introduction of these materials in robotics will potentially reduce the over-dimensioning of current robotic systems, leading to lighter systems and eventually to more efficient designs. Compliant elements used in next generation soft robots, can be constructed from available SH-materials, making them able to autonomously heal cuts and perforations caused by sharp objects in unstructured environments. In addition, the use of SH-materials will have a beneficial impact on the life span of robotic components, reducing the required maintenance drastically. In my master thesis I conducted a first feasibility study on SH-compliant actuators, which indicated the potential of SH-polymers for implementations in soft robotics. The multidisciplinary proposed doctoral project will continue this brand new subject and has the overall objective to develop a SH-compliant actuator that can fully autonomously self-heal after being damaged. This ambitious goal will be pursued, through fundamental research on novel SH-polymers, new shaping processes and innovating healing methods and will be illustrated by the development of two proofs of concept.
Date:1 Oct 2015 →  30 Sep 2019
Keywords:Self-healing, Robotics, Actuators
Disciplines:Automation, feedback control and robotics