Tim Helps
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Editorial: Actuation, sensing and control systems for soft wearable assistive devices Open
ISSN:2296-9144
Reactive Jetting of High Viscosity Nanocomposites for Dielectric Elastomer Actuation Open
The layer‐by‐layer nature of additive manufacturing is well matched to the layer construction of stacked dielectric actuators, with inkjet printing offering a unique opportunity due to its droplet‐on‐demand capability, suitable for multi‐m…
View article: Electro-lattice actuator: a compliant high-contractile active lattice structure
Electro-lattice actuator: a compliant high-contractile active lattice structure Open
Electro-ribbon actuators are high-performance electrically-driven artificial muscles with high flexibility, low mass, low power consumption, high contraction, and high force-to-weight ratio. They show great promise for driving the deployme…
Data for ElectroPneumatic Pump paper 2021 Open
Inlcuded here are data to support the paper: R. S. Diteesawat, T. Helps, M. Taghavi, J. Rossiter, Electro-pneumatic pumps for soft robotics. Sci. Robot. 6, eabc3721 (2021).
Closed-Loop Control of Electro-Ribbon Actuators Open
Electro-ribbon actuators are lightweight, flexible, high-performance actuators for next generation soft robotics. When electrically charged, electrostatic forces cause the electrode ribbons to progressively zip together through a process c…
Characteristic Analysis and Design Optimization of Bubble Artificial Muscles Open
Soft robotics requires new actuators and artificial muscles that are lighter, less expensive, and more effective than current technologies. Recently developed bubble artificial muscles (BAMs) are lightweight, flexible, inexpensive, pneumat…
Characterisation of Self-locking High-contraction Electro-ribbon Actuators Open
Actuators are essential devices that exert force and do work. The contraction of an actuator (how much it can shorten) is an important property that strongly influences its applications, especially in engineering and robotics. While high c…
Self-Sensing Electro-Ribbon Actuators Open
In this paper, we investigate the viability of capacitance self-sensing of electro-ribbon actuators, allowing them to be used simultaneously as an actuator and a sensor. Initially the electro-ribbon actuator was implemented only as a senso…
Twisted Rubber Variable-Stiffness Artificial Muscles Open
Variable-stiffness artificial muscles are important in many applications including running and hopping robots, human-robot interaction, and active suspension systems. Previously used technologies include pneumatic muscles, layer and granul…
Characterization and Lubrication of Tube-Guided Shape-Memory Alloy Actuators for Smart Textiles Open
Smart textiles are flexible materials with interactive capabilities such as sensing, actuation, and computing, and in recent years have garnered considerable interest. Shape-memory alloy (SMA) wire is well-suited for smart textiles due to …
View article: Electroactive Textile Actuators for Breathability Control and Thermal Regulation Devices
Electroactive Textile Actuators for Breathability Control and Thermal Regulation Devices Open
Smart fabrics offer the potential for a new generation of soft robotics and wearable technologies through the fusion of smart materials, textiles and electrical circuitries. Conductive and stretchable textiles have inherent compliance and …
Thermoplastic electroactive gels for 3D-printable artificial muscles Open
3D-printable artificial muscles have only recently garnered interest, and few 3D-printed artificial muscles have been demonstrated. In this article, we introduce the concept of thermoplastic electroactive gels, new smart materials that can…
Electro-ribbon actuators and electro-origami robots Open
Insulated conducting ribbons can be used to make powerful, versatile, ultrathin actuators and smart origami structures.
Towards electroactive gel artificial muscle structures Open
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gel is a promising, soft-smart material with electroactive properties, which can be used to make soft robotic actuators with impressive characteristics. However, until now, PVC gel actuators have always been made w…
3D-Printed Ready-To-Use Variable-Stiffness Structures Open
Various physical phenomena have been used to develop variable-stiffness (VS) materials and structures, but all have involved some element of manual fabrication, which limits their applications. In contrast, here we show fully 3D-printed mo…
Data from Electro-origami SciRob 2018 (12-2018) Open
Support data for Science Robotics paper: Electro-ribbon actuators and electro-origami robots Taghavi M, Helps T, Rossiter J Science Robotics, December 2018
Proprioceptive Flexible Fluidic Actuators Using Conductive Working Fluids Open
Soft robotic systems generally require both soft actuators and soft sensors to perform complex functions. Separate actuators and sensors are often combined into one composite device when proprioception (self-sensing) is required. In this a…
Focus groups for co-design of robotic trousers for improving mobility in older people Open
Research purpose and aims
\nBy 2039 more than one in twelve of the population is projected to be aged 80 or over, bringing increased prevalence of immobility and reduced quality of life (ONS, 2015). Current assistive equipment for improvin…
Kinematic Analysis of VibroBot: A Soft, Hopping Robot with Stiffness- and Shape-Changing Abilities Open
Bouncing locomotion is used frequently in the animal kingdom for high speed movement over land. Animals also change their stiffness and shape to improve their locomotion ability. Both bouncing movement and stiffness- and shape-changing cap…