Vacuum-powered soft actuator with oblique air chambers for easy detachment of artificial dry adhesive by coupled contraction and twisting.

ABSTRACT: A gecko foot-inspired, mushroom-shaped artificial dry adhesive exploiting intermolecular forces between microstructure and surface has drawn research attention for its strong adhesive force. However, the high pull-off strength corresponding to the adhesive force matters when detaching fragile substrates. In this study, we report a vacuum-powered soft actuator having oblique air chambers and a dry adhesive. The soft actuator performs coupled contraction and twisting by applying negative pneumatic pressure inward and exhibits not only high pull-off strength but also easy detachment. This effective detachment can be achieved thanks to the twisting motion of the soft actuator. The detachment performances of the actuator models are assessed using a 6-degrees-of-freedom robot arm. Results show t

SUBMITTER: Yoo SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10653703 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature