Mechanism and control of tongue robot

This paper describes the development of a multi-degrees of freedom (DOF) flexible robot based on the tongue. The authors focused on the tongue because of its "flexibility" and "soft motion." The robot performs motions characteristic of the tongue: i.e., up-down and right-left motion of tip, and up-down, right-left, twisting, and circular motion of the whole. The robot's forms were defined as a 1D form (a shape like a string), a 2D form (a shape like a sheet of paper), and a 3D form (a solid structure). In Stage 1, the robot consists of three parts: the tip, the body, and the base. This robot enabled realization of basic motion and 1-2D form. To transform 3D form, the whole robot will be built up from the basic units. Basic unit is tip part mechanisms in Stage 1. The basic formula for controlling the basic unit is indispensable in designing a robot from basic units. Thus, the basic formula was sought. Moreover, the basic unit was evaluated using the basic formula.