Review on Research Progress of Flexible Soft Manipulator

Background: Manipulator is widely used in the manufacturing industry because it can imitate some movements of human hands, and replace human hands to complete some high-risk and heavy labor or carry out man-machine cooperation. Flexible soft manipulator made of flexible materials is a new field of the manipulator. Investigation of the material and driving mode of the flexible soft manipulator is helpful to improve the flexibility and force position control when grasping objects. Therefore, researchers pay more and more attention to the development trend of the flexible soft manipulator. Objective: In order to optimize the driving mode and materials of a flexible soft manipulator, pneumatic- driven flexible soft manipulator and variable stiffness flexible soft manipulator are developed. Methods: This paper summarizes the selection, classification and introduction of patents related to pneumatic drive and variable stiffness in the flexible soft manipulator. Results: Through the investigation of various patents on flexible soft manipulators, the main existing problems in flexible soft manipulators, such as small grasping range and insufficient driving force, are summarized and analyzed. In addition, the development trend of flexible soft manipulators is also discussed. Conclusion: The optimization of the driving mode and materials of the manipulator is beneficial to improve the driving force and grasping force. More related patents will be invented in the future.