Control of a soft-bodied XY peristaltic table for delicate sorting

Abstract

A demand for a soft body robotic h a s become widely apparent especially in industrial sectors to accomplish the rotation of a variety of organic matter. The inaccuracy of the classical robots in the handling of many organic objects such as fruits or eggs in production lines has triggered the necessity for soft body robotics. In this paper, we introduce a hybrid robotic prototype (X-Y soft-bodied peristaltic table) combining soft and hard robotics techniques with cutting-edge design in its physical stature, so as to control its 25 motors and to be autonomous. These 25 motors are capable of generating peristaltic motion in the soft layers of the table surface, thus providing a physical force that transports delicate objects. Two control systems have been developed to validate the industrial potential of a peristaltic XY table. The first system is a dynamic real-time path planning program that has been written to determine the shortest path from an object on the table's surface to a target position selected by the user; the second system is an artificial neural network (ANN) that has been developed to estimate the relationship between the table's actuation pattern and the corresponding surface deformation.