Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure
Animal muscles have complex, three-dimensional structures with fibers oriented in various directions. The tongue, in particular, features a highly intricate muscular system composed of four intrinsic muscles and several types of extrinsic muscles, enabling flexible and diverse movements essential fo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Robotics and AI |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2024.1511422/full |
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| author | Yuta Ishikawa Hiroyuki Nabae Megu Gunji Gen Endo Koichi Suzumori |
| author_facet | Yuta Ishikawa Hiroyuki Nabae Megu Gunji Gen Endo Koichi Suzumori |
| author_sort | Yuta Ishikawa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Animal muscles have complex, three-dimensional structures with fibers oriented in various directions. The tongue, in particular, features a highly intricate muscular system composed of four intrinsic muscles and several types of extrinsic muscles, enabling flexible and diverse movements essential for feeding, swallowing, and speech production. Replicating these structures could lead to the development of multifunctional manipulators and advanced platforms for studying muscle-motion relationships. In this study, we developed a pig tongue soft robot that focuses on replicating the intrinsic muscles using thin McKibben artificial muscles, silicone rubber, and gel. We began by performing three-dimensional scans and sectional observations in the coronal and sagittal planes to examine the arrangement and orientation of the intrinsic muscles in the actual pig tongue. Additionally, we used the diffusible iodine-based contrast-enhanced computed tomography (Dice-CT) technique to observe the three-dimensional flow of muscle pathways. Based on these observations, we constructed a three-dimensional model and molded the pig tongue shape with silicone rubber and gel, embedding artificial muscles into the robot body. We conducted experiments to assess both the motion of the tongue robot’s tip and its stiffness during muscle contractions. The results confirmed characteristic tongue motions, such as tip extension, flexion, and lateral bending, as well as stiffness changes during actuation, suggesting the potential for this soft robot to serve as a platform for academic and engineering studies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0c65ed981db04e3ea5c1a8076d58fe35 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2296-9144 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Robotics and AI |
| spelling | doaj-art-0c65ed981db04e3ea5c1a8076d58fe352025-01-09T05:10:21ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Robotics and AI2296-91442025-01-011110.3389/frobt.2024.15114221511422Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structureYuta Ishikawa0Hiroyuki Nabae1Megu Gunji2Gen Endo3Koichi Suzumori4School of Engineering, Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanSchool of Engineering, Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanDepartment of Life Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Toyo University, Tokyo, JapanSchool of Engineering, Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanSchool of Engineering, Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanAnimal muscles have complex, three-dimensional structures with fibers oriented in various directions. The tongue, in particular, features a highly intricate muscular system composed of four intrinsic muscles and several types of extrinsic muscles, enabling flexible and diverse movements essential for feeding, swallowing, and speech production. Replicating these structures could lead to the development of multifunctional manipulators and advanced platforms for studying muscle-motion relationships. In this study, we developed a pig tongue soft robot that focuses on replicating the intrinsic muscles using thin McKibben artificial muscles, silicone rubber, and gel. We began by performing three-dimensional scans and sectional observations in the coronal and sagittal planes to examine the arrangement and orientation of the intrinsic muscles in the actual pig tongue. Additionally, we used the diffusible iodine-based contrast-enhanced computed tomography (Dice-CT) technique to observe the three-dimensional flow of muscle pathways. Based on these observations, we constructed a three-dimensional model and molded the pig tongue shape with silicone rubber and gel, embedding artificial muscles into the robot body. We conducted experiments to assess both the motion of the tongue robot’s tip and its stiffness during muscle contractions. The results confirmed characteristic tongue motions, such as tip extension, flexion, and lateral bending, as well as stiffness changes during actuation, suggesting the potential for this soft robot to serve as a platform for academic and engineering studies.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2024.1511422/fullsoft robotbiomimetic robotpig tonguemuscular structure mimicking robotpneumatic artificial muscle |
| spellingShingle | Yuta Ishikawa Hiroyuki Nabae Megu Gunji Gen Endo Koichi Suzumori Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure Frontiers in Robotics and AI soft robot biomimetic robot pig tongue muscular structure mimicking robot pneumatic artificial muscle |
| title | Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure |
| title_full | Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure |
| title_fullStr | Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure |
| title_short | Pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure |
| title_sort | pig tongue soft robot mimicking intrinsic tongue muscle structure |
| topic | soft robot biomimetic robot pig tongue muscular structure mimicking robot pneumatic artificial muscle |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2024.1511422/full |
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