Programmable design of soft pneu-net actuators with oblique chambers can generate coupled bending and twisting motions

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. Vol. 271; pp. 131 - 138
• Main Authors: Wang, Tianyu, Ge, Lisen, Gu, Guoying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.03.2018; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Actuators; Coupled bending and twisting motion; Deformation; Dexterous grasping; Finite element analysis; Finite element method; Pneu-net actuator; Sensors; Soft pneumatic actuator; Twisting; Pneu-net actuator; Soft pneumatic actuator; Coupled bending and twisting motion; Finite element analysis; Dexterous grasping
• ISSN: 0924-4247; 1873-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2018.01.018

•A pneu-net actuator with coupled bending and twisting motion is designed.•The motion of the actuator can be programmable by adjusting the chamber angle.•Both the FEA and experimental results are presented to verify the development.•The actuator can dexterously grasp different objects with various sizes or shapes. Soft pneumatic network (pneu-net) actuators are widely employed for achieving sophisticated motions. However, to produce bending and twisting simultaneously in a single pneu-net actuator is challenging. In this paper we present a programmable design to enable pneu-net actuators to achieve such complex motions. This achievement is mainly owing to tuning a structure parameter, the chamber angle. Through finite element analysis and experimental verification, variation trends of bending and twisting motions with respect to the chamber angle are investigated. Additionally, deformation characteristics of actuators are demonstrated by depicting configurations of actuators and some grasping tests. By adjusting the chamber angle, the motion of pneu-net actuators is explored into 3-D space and becomes more sophisticated and dexterous. This programmable design method guides the design of pneu-net actuators, making them promising candidates for more complicated and advanced applications.