Structural Analysis on Flexible Skin of Emotional Support Robot

This paper presents a structural analysis result on the flexible skin of the emotional support robot. The analysis based on a finite element method (FEM) is performed to realize appropriate deformation of the skin (urethane material with a thickness of 3 mm) according to a movement of the robot’s head. The analysis model consists of the single part skin that completely cover the body and head of the robot. Through the structural analysis, the shapes of the skin deformation for each of the four (4) unit motions of the robot are predicted, and these are applied to design elements such as gestures of the robot.