As mentioned in design section, wall thickness and groove depth in the design of the honeycomb structure can affect the mechanical performance of the manipulator. In this section, we propose two evaluation metrics for assessing the mechanical property of the manipulator, flexibility and load bearing capacity. After that, we use FEM modeling method to analyze this metric for segments with different thickness and groove depth, which can provide guidance for implementing a real manipulator.
For the whole manipulator, the flexibility is imperative for its front portion of the manipulator while the load bearing capacity is imperative at its base. By comparing the performance of different structures in simulations, we are able to understand the relationship between the performance (flexibility and load bearing capacity) of the manipulator and design parameters (wall thickness and groove depth).
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The variation of flexibility is illustrated in the figure above (left). We find that as the groove depth grows, the flexibility increases, while as the wall thickness grows, the flexibility decreases. Both variations are monotonous.
As shown in the figure on the right, the load bearing capacity increases monotonously as the wall thickness grows. However, the variation of load bearing capacity about the groove depth is not monotonous: it initially increases, and then decreases.
All of this will be detailed in evaluation, FEM simulation process and resulting analysis of the parts.