Accuracy and precision: A new viewon kinematic assessment of solid-state hinges and compliant mechanisms

Compliant mechanisms are alternatives to conventional mechanisms which exploit elastic strain to produce desired deformations instead of using moveable parts. They are designed for a kinematic task (providing desired deformations) but do not possess a kinematics in the strict sense. This leads to difficulties while assessing the quality of a compliant mechanism’s design. The kinematics of a compliant mechanism can be seen as a fuzzy property. There is no unique kinematics, since every deformation need a particular force system to act; however, certain deformations are easier to obtain than others. A parallel can be made with measurement theory: the measured value of a quantity is not unique, but exists as statistic distribution of measures. A representative measure of this distribution can be chosen to evaluate how far the measures divert from a reference value. Based on this analogy, the concept of accuracy and precision of compliant systems are introduced and discussed in this paper. A quantitative determination of these qualities based on the eigenvalue analysis of the hinge’s stiffness is proposed. This new approach is capable of removing most of the ambiguities included in the state-of-the-art assessment criteria (usually based on the concepts of path deviation and parasitic motion).

Self-Actuated Paper and Wood Models: Low-Cost Handcrafted Biomimetic Compliant Systems for Research and Teaching

The abstraction and implementation of plant movement principles into biomimetic compliant systems are of increasing interest for technical applications, e.g., in architecture, medicine, and soft robotics. Within the respective research and development approaches, advanced methods such as 4D printing or 3D-braiding pultrusion are typically used to generate proof-of-concept demonstrators at the laboratory or demonstrator scale. However, such techniques are generally time-consuming, complicated, and cost-intensive, which often impede the rapid realization of a sufficient number of demonstrators for testing or teaching. Therefore, we have produced comparable simple handcrafted compliant systems based on paper, wood, plastic foil, and/or glue as construction materials. A variety of complex plant movement principles have been transferred into these low-cost physical demonstrators, which are self-actuated by shrinking processes induced by the anisotropic hygroscopic properties of wood or paper. The developed systems have a high potential for fast, precise, and low-cost abstraction and transfer processes in biomimetic approaches and for the “hands-on understanding” of plant movements in applied university and school courses.

A Review on Tailoring Stiffness in Compliant Systems, via Removing Material: Cellular Materials and Topology Optimization

Cellular Materials and Topology Optimization use a structured distribution of material to achieve specific mechanical properties. The controlled distribution of material often leads to several advantages including the customization of the resulting mechanical properties; this can be achieved following these two approaches. In this work, a review of these two as approaches used with compliance purposes applied at flexure level is presented. The related literature is assessed with the aim of clarifying how they can be used in tailoring stiffness of flexure elements. Basic concepts needed to understand the fundamental process of each approach are presented. Further, tailoring stiffness is described as an evolutionary process used in compliance applications. Additionally, works that used these approaches to tailor stiffness of flexure elements are described and categorized. Finally, concluding remarks and recommendations to further extend the study of these two approaches in tailoring the stiffness of flexure elements are discussed.

Extracellular matrix hydrogel derived from decellularized tissues enables endodermal organoid culture

Organoids have extensive therapeutic potential and are increasingly opening up new avenues within regenerative medicine. However, their clinical application is greatly limited by the lack of effective GMP-compliant systems for organoid expansion in culture. Here, we envisage that the use of extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogels derived from decellularized tissues (DT) can provide an environment capable of directing cell growth. These gels possess the biochemical signature of tissue-specific ECM and have the potential for clinical translation. Gels from decellularized porcine small intestine (SI) mucosa/submucosa enable formation and growth of endoderm-derived human organoids, such as gastric, hepatic, pancreatic, and SI. ECM gels can be used as a tool for direct human organoid derivation, for cell growth with a stable transcriptomic signature, and for in vivo organoid delivery. The development of these ECM-derived hydrogels opens up the potential for human organoids to be used clinically.

Displacement Analysis of Compliant Mechanism

Everyone expects accurate outcomes in the fast-moving and extremely competitive globe today. The urgent need for precision led to developing new processes in a rapidly increasing mechanical and mechatronic globe, which serve the primary objective of accuracy. This special class of mechanism is called compliant mechanisms, which are used to improve the precision without compromising the accuracy of a member because of the steadiness and flexion. Motion is produced by the molecular deformation in compliant systems, leading to two main features of bending–soft movement and a tiny scope of movement. Scan The demand for contemporary techniques, for example the production of micronanos, characterization systems, such as microscopes is present in the scan processes. For the accurate control / manipulation of object position, different compliant based mechanisms are created. Flexures are compliant, elastic structures which produce smooth motions, tiny range and high resolution for their functionality. These processes can be used in precise apps such as micro soldering, lithographic micro-manufacturing wafer alignment. The primary aim is therefore to design an accurate system in a linear as well as in a rotational direction that gives accurate movement.The software of ANSYS is used to generate compliant mechanism parametric and static analysis models.

Load-Flow Based Design of Compliant Mechanisms With Embedded Soft Actuators

Transmission members such as gears and linkages are ubiquitously used in mechatronic systems to tailor the performance of actuators. However, in most bio-inspired soft systems the actuation and transmission members are closely integrated, and sometimes indistinguishable. Embedded actuation is greatly advantageous for attaining high stroke and transferring large output forces. This paper attempts at a systematic synthesis of compliant systems with embedded contractile actuators and passive members to achieve a particular kinematic objective. The paper builds on recent understanding of a compliant mechanism topology where the constituent members can be functionally classified as load transferring transmitters and strain energy storing constraints. The functional equivalence between the transmitter members and actuators are used to replace transmitters in tension with contractile actuators, thus realizing a compliant embedded system. Once a single-input single-output compliant mechanism is designed, and its load flow behavior mapped, systematic guidelines and best practices are established for embedding actuators within the topology to increase performance without altering the kinematic behavior. Several examples, including a prototype that used soft pneumatic artificial muscles is presented to validate the synthesis framework. The initial results will form the basis for designing fully autonomous compliant systems with embedded actuators and sensors without the use of computationally expensive techniques.