AUTHOR=Fishman Aaron , Garrad Martin Stephen , Hinitt Andrew , Zanini Plinio , Barker Tim , Rossiter Jonathan TITLE=A Compliant Telescopic Limb with Anisotropic Stiffness JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI VOLUME=3 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2016.00080 DOI=10.3389/frobt.2016.00080 ISSN=2296-9144 ABSTRACT=

Soft limbs with anisotropic stiffness are common in nature and enable animals to solve a variety of tasks, including locomotion and manipulation. This mixture of hardness and softness enables animals to efficiently control the unpredictable contact forces that occur while performing such tasks. A challenge for soft robotics is to create artificial limbs that mimic natural mixtures of hardness and softness for use as a building block for soft, adaptable robots. This article presents the design of a novel pneumatic limb module with adjustable length and anisotropic stiffness. The artificial limb is designed with a rigid telescopic endoskeleton inside a rubber bellow, which we show is able to resist buckling, while remaining externally soft. Finally, we present the design of a hexapod walker based on the limb units.