Design and Characterization of a 3D Printed Soft Pneumatic Actuator

Abstract

In soft robotics, the successful development of soft robots involves careful designing that can benefit from current technologies. The use of Finite Element Method (FEM) software and additive manufacturing is essential to optimize the design before fabrication and to facilitate the process. Therefore, we present the design of a 3D printed low-pressure soft pneumatic actuator (SPA) with 3 DoF and a material characterization method to simulate the behaviour of the system. In attempt to define a suitable material modelling method and its reliability to simulate actuator behaviours, we introduce a characterization method and corroborate its efficiency through the evaluation of the performance using the FEM and preliminary tests of the actuator performance. The purpose of this article is to help future projects to effectively simulate the behaviour of 3D printed soft pneumatic actuators to improve the design before fabrication. Throughout the description of the process to effectively fabricate a functional SPA.