Vacuum-powered soft actuator with oblique air chambers for easy detachment of artificial dry adhesive by coupled contraction and twisting

A gecko foot-inspired, mushroom-shaped artificial dry adhesive exploiting intermolecular forces between microstructure and surface has drawn research attention for its strong adhesive force. However, the high pull-off strength corresponding to the adhesive force matters when detaching fragile substrates. In this study, we report a vacuum-powered soft actuator having oblique air chambers and a dry adhesive. The soft actuator performs coupled contraction and twisting by applying negative pneumatic pressure inward and exhibits not only high pull-off strength but also easy detachment. This effective detachment can be achieved thanks to the twisting motion of the soft actuator. The detachment performances of the actuator models are assessed using a 6-degrees-of-freedom robot arm. Results show that the soft actuators exhibit remarkable pull-off strength decrement from ~20 N cm−2 to ~2 N cm−2 due to the twisting. Finally, to verify a feasible application of this study, we utilize the inherent compliance of the actuators and introduce a glass transfer system for which a glass substrate on a slope is gripped by the flexibility of the soft actuators and delivered to the destination without any fracture. Vacuum-powered soft actuator with oblique air chambers for easy detachment of artificial dry adhesive by coupled contraction and twisting In this work, we report a vacuum-powered soft actuator with artificial dry adhesive. We used a vacuum for the easy detachment of the dry adhesive and verified a feasibility for the real-industrial fields. The highlights and novelty of this work are as follows: • Vacuum-powered soft actuator with Gecko inspired dry adhesive • High adhesion with an easy detachment by twisting motion • Mechanical analysis of the easy detachment • Novel glass transfer system with the 6-DOF robot arm based on the soft actuator受壁虎脚掌启发的蘑菇状人造干粘合剂（artificial dry adhesive），通过利用微结构与表面之间的分子间作用力实现强粘附效果，因其优异的粘附力而受到学术界的广泛关注。然而，在剥离易碎基材时，与高粘附力对应的高剥离强度（pull-off strength）会成为剥离操作的痛点。本研究中，我们提出一种集成斜向气室与干粘合剂的真空驱动软体执行器（soft actuator）。通过向内施加负压气动压力，该软体执行器可实现协同收缩与扭转运动，不仅具备高剥离强度，同时实现了便捷剥离。这种高效的剥离效果得益于软体执行器的扭转运动。我们采用六自由度（6-degrees-of-freedom）机械臂对执行器模型的剥离性能进行了评估。实验结果表明，得益于扭转运动，该软体执行器的剥离强度可从约20 N·cm⁻²显著降至约2 N·cm⁻²。最后，为验证本研究的实际应用可行性，我们利用执行器固有的柔顺性，搭建了玻璃转运系统：通过软体执行器的柔性夹持斜坡上的玻璃基材，将其无破损地运送至目标位置。 基于协同收缩与扭转实现人造干粘合剂便捷剥离的斜向气室真空驱动软体执行器 本工作中，我们提出一种集成人造干粘合剂的真空驱动软体执行器。通过利用真空实现干粘合剂的便捷剥离，我们验证了该方案在实际工业场景中的应用可行性。本工作的亮点与创新点如下： • 受壁虎启发的干粘合剂集成真空驱动软体执行器 • 兼具高粘附性能与扭转式便捷剥离能力 • 针对便捷剥离过程的力学分析 • 基于软体执行器与六自由度（6-DOF）机械臂的新型玻璃转运系统