ソフトマテリアルを用いたロボット要素技術

抄録

Recently many robots are going to be used in the factories. These robots are designed to do “a fixed work” at “a fixed place” in the factory. Also these robots are not covered with enough sensors so that they may cause damage to human easily. From these reasons, the previous robots couldn't be used in the public places. To use robots in the human society, we must make them safe and dexterous. The soft-materials for robots are necessary to be applied to this demand. In the paper, we introduce some examples of the soft-materials for robots. The first example is a soft actuator using artificial muscles, which were actuated by the air pressure. The second example is tactile sensors using MEMS technologies and silicon-rubber. These materials make the robots, safer and friendlier.