Soft Two-degree-of-freedom Dielectric Elastomer Position Sensor Exhibiting Linear Behavior
<|reference_start|>Soft Two-degree-of-freedom Dielectric Elastomer Position Sensor Exhibiting Linear Behavior: Soft robots could bring robotic systems to new horizons, by enabling safe human-machine interaction. For precise control, these soft structures require high level position feedback that is not easily achieved through conventional one-degree-of-freedom (DOF) sensing apparatus. In this paper, a soft two-DOF dielectric elastomer (DE) sensor is specifically designed to provide accurate position feedback for a soft polymer robotic manipulator. The technology is exemplified on a soft robot intended for MRI-guided prostate interventions. DEs are chosen for their major advantages of softness, high strains, low cost and embedded multiple-DOF sensing capability, providing excellent system integration. A geometrical model of the proposed DE sensor is developed and compared to experimental results in order to understand sensor mechanics. Using a differential measurement approach, a handmade prototype provided linear sensory behavior and 0.2 mm accuracy on two-DOF. This correlates to a 0.7\% error over the sensor's 30 mm x 30 mm planar range, demonstrating the outstanding potential of DE technology for accurate multi-DOF position sensing.<|reference_end|>
@article{girard2024soft,
    title={Soft Two-degree-of-freedom Dielectric Elastomer Position Sensor
  Exhibiting Linear Behavior},
    author={Alexandre Girard, Jean-Philippe Lucking Bigu'e, Benjamin M. O'Brien,
  Todd A. Gisby, Iain A. Anderson and Jean-S'ebastien Plante},
    journal={IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics ( Volume: 20, Issue: 1,
  February 2015)},
    year={2024},
    doi={10.1109/TMECH.2014.2307006},
    archivePrefix={arXiv},
    eprint={2405.17073},
    primaryClass={cs.RO}
}