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Instrumentation of RV-M1 Robots for Developing Biologically Inspired Materials

Abstract

The extensive devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in southern US has intensified efforts to build structures that are resistant to shear forces of nature, typical of hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes. With the superior properties of biologically inspired materials such as nacre, which combine high strength with toughness, it is desirable to mimic nature in construction of large and small structures. Due to the fine details of the layered microstructure of nacre, it is almost impossible to mimic it with the conventional fabrication methods. The nano/micro-scale thickness of the hard and soft layers that comprise the hard shell of nacre requires innovative automated in-situ fabrication processes that span various fields including materials science, robotics, construction and metrology. This paper describes the details of instrumentation for robotic construction using RV-M1 robots. It also presents some preliminary results on the fabrication of biomimicked materials. For the robotic part, vision enabled robots were equipped with dispensers to build bio-mimicked layered composites. Labview™ virtual instruments (VIs) were developed to guide the robots, to actuate injectors, and to analyze images. The implications of this work for the projects assigned at the undergraduate level as well as students’ capstone project will also be discussed.

Introduction

In the aftermath of the major disasters that claimed human lives and caused extensive financial losses, it is necessary to develop materials that resistant to powerful forces of nature. Most buildings, especially in the third world countries are built from manually laid clay bricks (unfired or fired) in layered structures with mud or gypsum mortar interlayers. In the event of an earthquake or other disasters that exert dynamic shear forces on buildings, these layered structures disintegrate and fall causing preventable losses. The main factor that causes the disintegration is lack of shear strength for the structural materials used in these buildings. Other structures containing weak joints, brittle components, or poor geometric designs are also vulnerable to the powerful forces of tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes. This fact has been evidenced by blown roofs and shattered structures scattered in mobile parks in the aftermath of tornados.

Naturally-Occurring Tough Structures

The robustness of naturally-occurring structures lies in two facts. The first fact is the geometric shapes with intricacies optimized to withstand maximum forces while using least amount of material. The second fact is that the material used is engineered by nature with layered or fibrous structures. Usually there is a hard layer or fiber which is sandwiched or embedded in a matrix of a softer phase that acts as glue (Figure 1). The latter provides toughness to the otherwise hard brittle material. The polymer or soft

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Allameh, S., & Sadat-Hossieny, M., & Cooper, P. (2006, June), Instrumentation Of Rv M1 Robots For Developing Biologically Inspired Materials Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1224