Title: Digital logic for soft devices

Abstract

Although soft devices (grippers, actuators, and elementary robots) are rapidly becoming an integral part of the broad field of robotics, autonomy for completely soft devices has only begun to be developed. Adaptation of conventional systems of control to soft devices requires hard valves and electronic controls. This paper describes completely soft pneumatic digital logic gates having a physical scale appropriate for use with current (macroscopic) soft actuators. Each digital logic gate utilizes a single bistable valve—the pneumatic equivalent of a Schmitt trigger—which relies on the snap-through instability of a hemispherical membrane to kink internal tubes and operates with binary high/low input and output pressures. Soft, pneumatic NOT, AND, and OR digital logic gates—which generate known pneumatic outputs as a function of one, or multiple, pneumatic inputs—allow fabrication of digital logic circuits for a set–reset latch, two-bit shift register, leading-edge detector, digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and toggle switch. The DAC and toggle switch, in turn, can control and power a soft actuator (demonstrated using a pneu-net gripper). We note ehese macroscale soft digital logic gates are scalable to high volumes of airflow, do not consume power at steady state, and can be reconfigured to achieve multiple functionalities from a single design (includingmore » configurations that receive inputs from the environment and from human users). This work represents a step toward a strategy to develop autonomous control—one not involving an electronic interface or hard components—for soft devices.« less

Authors:

Preston, Daniel J. ;

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Preston, Daniel J."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-0096-0285"

Rothemund, Philipp; Jiang, Haihui Joy; Nemitz, Markus P.; Rawson, Jeff; Suo, Zhigang; Whitesides, George M.

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Whitesides, George M."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-9451-2442"

Publication Date:

Thu Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2019

Research Org.:

Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

OSTI Identifier:

1558180

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1609346

Grant/Contract Number:  

FG02-00ER45852

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 116 Journal Issue: 16; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:

National Academy of Sciences

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; science & technology - other topics; logic; control; artificial intelligence; human–soft device interaction; buckling