Mathematical Foundation of Flexible and Soft Manufacturing Robot Systems

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Advanced manufacturing robot technologies, such as soft robots, are necessary in order to increase productivity, ensure safety, and perform difficult precision tasks in many industry sectors including automotive, aerospace, food, construction, and agricultural. The control and stability of flexible and soft manufacturing robotic systems, which have complex geometries and experience desirable and undesirable deformations, are of major concern, particularly when lightweight softer materials are used. However, the mathematical foundation of such flexible and soft robots has not been established and our knowledge of their mechanics remains remarkably incomplete. The seriousness of this challenge is evident by the lack of advanced virtual prototyping techniques that are integral part of the design, analysis, and performance evaluation of other physics and engineering systems. This project will conduct fundamental research to create the mathematical foundation and new computational algorithms for flexible and soft manufacturing robot systems in order to address virtual prototyping challenges. The new mathematical foundation will improve the analysis and performance evaluation methods, capture significant details that cannot be captured by existing simplified approaches, allow for virtually testing new and improved designs, make such systems more affordable and safer, and accelerate the design, development, and commercialization of such machines. The new knowledge, approaches, and numerical algorithms developed in this research will be used in the education of undergraduate and graduate students at University of Illinois at Chicago. The broader impact will be realized through dissemination, training, and outreach activities. The scientific challenges include the integration of the robot geometry and analysis; implementation of general and unconventional material models and actuation forces; use of new concepts for mechanical joint modelling; and developing efficient and robust algorithms for virtual prototyping. This research seeks to address these challenges by developing a new transformative continuum-based finite element and multibody system approach based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. This formulation allows modeling arbitrarily large and coupled displacements, correctly captures complex geometries, and allows implementing general and nonconventional material models. In this research project, accurate definitions of conventional and non-conventional actuation forces will be developed taking into consideration the complexity of the geometry of the robot components, which can be systematically captured using the finite elements of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.