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Tiny Stretchable Pump for Powering Soft Robotics

Most soft robots are actuated by rigid, noisy pumps that push fluids into the machines’ moving parts. Scientists at EPFL  have developed the first entirely soft pump – even the electrodes are flexible. Weighing just one gram, the pump is completely silent and consumes very little power, which it gets from a 2-cm by 2-cm circuit that includes a rechargeable battery. This tiny pump could play a big role in the development of autonomous soft robots, lightweight exoskeletons, and smart clothing. Flexible, silent, and small, it's poised to replace the bulky pumps currently used.

Topics:
Automation Electronics & Computers Manufacturing & Prototyping Motion Control Power Robotics

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    Transcript

    00:00:00 Soft robots are a rapidly growing area of Robotics, and they're particularly interesting, because it allows for a safe way of interacting with humans and it can even be wearable. So you would have a wearable exoskeleton or wearable rehabilitation suit. Our stretchable pump represents a paradigm shift in how we can create soft robots, because we can integrate the pump directly in the soft artificial muscles of the robots. Essentially creating an artificial heart for soft robotics. Our stretchable pumps are silent, comfortable and powerful.

    00:00:30 All essential for on body applications. Unlike traditional rigid pumps, our pump can be twisted, bent and even stretched, and it keeps working while doing so. That's because it has no moving parts inside. And because of that, it's also silent, and free of any vibration. Our tiny pump models are just one millimeter thick and weight just one gram. We can power them with palm-sized battery and power supply. If we want to scale it up to larger devices we can just connect the units in series or in parallel to get higher pressure or higher flow rate. So it's a modular approach and it's easy to scale.

    00:01:05 Our pump is made of three layers. The central layer is a channel that is filled dielectric liquid, and then we have on the two sides two interdigitated electrodes. The interdigitated electrodes are exposed to the liquid and when we apply an electric field, we accelerate the molecules in a dielectric lilquid, and while they move they drag around the other liquid molecules and create flow in the channel. One key area we're working on with partners in Japan are exoskeletons based on ultra thin fluidic actuators. This will make for a wearable soft exoskeleton

    00:01:34 that will help people lifting heavy loads or for rehabilitation after surgery. Another important area is using the pumps to move liquid around the body for temperature control. You can imagine surgeons or athletes wearing such a device in order to actively cool their bodies.