Wire-Driven Variable Stiffness Mechanism Using Dish-Shaped Thin Beads

- Experimental Measurement of Holding Torque and Radius of Curvature and Comparison with Bowl-Shaped Beads -

Abstract

In recent years, there has been much research on soft robots with variable stiffness mechanism. There are various methods for switching stiffness, and one of them is the wire method. It consists of multiple beads with through holes and a wire passed through the center. As one of the novel bead shapes, we have designed and realized a dish-shaped thin bead that enables shorter distance between beads and active bending in high curvature. However, theoretical and experimental comparisons of holding torque and radius of curvature between proposed bead and the conventional model of bowl-shaped beads are still insufficient. In this paper, we evaluated the holding torque and radius of curvature theoretically and experimentally and compared them with bowl-shaped beads.