Jamming Transition Mechanism That Becomes High Rigidity by Pressure

- Invention and Realization of Fluid-Driven Variable stiffness Mechanism -

Abstract

We proposed a fluid-driven jamming mechanism that realizes a variable stiffness mechanism by using pressurization. In this mechanism, a rubber tube is enclosed inside a hollow linear body. When this tube is expanded by fluid pressure, the linear body can be held in any shape. Since the fluid pressure is used, the force can be transmitted even if the deformation is large, and the holding torque can be maximized. When a joint diameter of 17.8 mm and a pressure of 0.2 MPa were applied, a maximum holding torque of 0.21 Nm was obtained. In this paper, the basic principle of the devised fluid jamming mechanism is shown, and the effectiveness of this mechanism is demonstrated by obtaining the holding torque using the prototyped machine.