Theoretical and Experimental Evaluation on Specific Stiffness of a Integrally-Shaped Lightweight Honeycomb Robotic Arm

Abstract

This study deals with a novel robotic arm for astronautical development by using honeycomb structure. Space robotic arm should possess lightweight, high-rigidity and compact. In this study, Honeycomb sandwich structure is introduced to realize compact and lightweight arm. To avoid the influence of adherence, the experimental specimens are integrally shaped by using 3D printer. Theoretical and experimental evaluation of the integrally shaped honeycomb arm is carried out. Comparison with SRMM (Canada arm), the partial superiority of the presented honeycomb arm is confirmed. Besides, the integral shaping using 3D printer is confirmed to be effective to avoid the influence of adherence.