SoPrA:Fabrication & Dynamical Modeling of a Scalable Soft Continuum Robotic Arm with Proprioception 

"SoPrA: Fabrication & Dynamical Modeling of a Scalable Soft Continuum Robotic Arm with Integrated Proprioceptive Sensing"
accepted for presentation at 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021)
Yasunori Toshimitsu, Ki Wan Wong, Thomas Buchner, Robert Katzschmann
arxiv.org/abs/2103.10726
This work presents a design and modeling process for a Soft continuum Proprioceptive Arm (SoPrA) actuated by pneumatics. The integrated design is suitable for an analytical model due to its internal capacitive flex sensor for proprioceptive measurements and its fiber-reinforced fluidic elastomer actuators. The proposed analytical dynamical model accounts for the inertial effects of the actuator's mass and the material properties, and predicts in real-time the soft robot's behavior. Our estimation method integrates the analytical model with proprioceptive sensors to calculate external forces, all without relying on an external motion capture system. SoPrA is validated in a series of experiments demonstrating the model's and sensor's accuracy in estimation. SoPrA will enable soft arm manipulation including force sensing while operating in obstructed environments that disallows exteroceptive measurements.

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