Piezoelectric energy harvesting in a soft segmented robot

Abstract

The twenty-first century has seen a tremendous rise in electronic devices. However, this rise comes with a cost in energy. Researchers have been exploring alternate energy sources to replace traditional energy sources like batteries for the past two decades. Piezoelectricity is one of the less used alternate sources, which converts vibration energy into electricity. This thesis explores the energy harvested by piezoelectric devices from the movement of a soft robot. The energy harvested can recharge the power source that runs the robot. A model derived from the lumped-parameter model of piezoelectricity is developed for connected piezoelectric devices. This model is used to calculate the amount of energy generated from movements of the soft robot, like stretching and rotation. This thesis also highlights the stability and limitations of the proposed model.