Abstract:

With the characteristics of large stiffness variation band, relatively simple and direct stimulus method, and obvious controllability, jamming, a kind of phase transition phenomenon, is employed extensively for stiffness modulation of soft robotic. Generally, three types of jamming classified by the geometry of matters, containing particle jamming, fiber jamming and layer jamming, have been discussed and exploited in many research investigations. We proposed additional three fundamental jamming, including spherical jamming, cylindrical jamming, and conical jamming, which are distinguished by the their different DOF (degree of freedom). Some hybridizations with different characteristics and application scenarios among these six fundamental jamming are also presented and investigated. We have completed the stiffness experiment of one of the hybrid jamming. This hybrid jamming possesses three activation modes and can achieve non-monotonic stiffness variation.