Robots made of soft materials are demonstrating to be well suited in applications where dexterity and intrinsic safety are necessary. However, one of the most challenging goals of soft robotics remains the ability to change the stiffness of body parts to guarantee stability and to produce significant forces. Among soft actuation technologies reported in literature, the jamming phenomenon is now achieving resounding interest. The jamming transition was observed and studied both with granular and laminar material; however, there is a third possibility that is not gaining the attention that probably would deserve: the fiber jamming. The aim of this study was an attempt to analyze the main parameters influencing the fiber jamming transition as promising stiffening solution for soft robotics. A preliminary analysis to choose the most suitable filling material and the external membrane that compose the system was performed and three possible configurations were designed. The prototypes thus assembled were experimentally investigated by using two different setups: one for conducting comparative bending tests on the systems and another for assessing the mechanical properties of single filling fibers. The results of the tests are used to feature the correlation between the arrangement and the material properties of the fibers and the stiffening capability of the fiber jamming systems. The investigation has shown performances comparable with those obtained with granular and layer jamming, demonstrating that fiber jamming is a good candidate for integration in soft robotic devices.

中文翻译：

---

光纤干扰过渡作为软机器人的加强机制

由软材料制成的机器人被证明非常适合需要灵巧性和本质安全性的应用。然而，软机器人最具挑战性的目标之一仍然是改变身体部位刚度以保证稳定性并产生显着力的能力。在文献报道的软驱动技术中，干扰现象现在引起了极大的兴趣。用粒状和层状材料观察和研究了干扰转变；然而，还有第三种可能没有引起应有的关注：光纤干扰。本研究的目的是试图分析影响光纤干扰转变的主要参数，作为软机器人的有希望的加强解决方案。对选择最合适的填充材料和构成系统的外膜进行了初步分析，并设计了三种可能的配置。通过使用两种不同的设置对如此组装的原型进行了实验研究：一种用于对系统进行比较弯曲测试，另一种用于评估单填充纤维的机械性能。测试结果用于表征纤维的排列和材料特性之间的相关性以及纤维阻塞系统的硬化能力。研究表明，其性能可与颗粒和层干扰所获得的性能相媲美，这表明光纤干扰是集成到软机器人设备中的良好候选者。