Analysis Of Soft Pneumatic Actuators With Different Cross-Section Of Air Chambers

Abstract

Soft robots are far more adaptable than conventional rigid robots. They have high flexibility, infinite degree of freedom, and their compliant nature makes them the best option for different industrial, surgical, and healthcare applications. The efficiency of a soft can be estimated by the performance of the soft actuators. Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) are the most common and highly utilized soft actuators because of their high low weight and high output force. In this study, three different SPAs, single chamber SPA with rectangular cross-section, multi-chamber SPA with square air chambers, and multi-chamber SPA with circular air chambers, have been modeled and analyzed using the finite element analysis (FEA) theory. The results concluded that the multi-chamber SPA creates large bending as compared to the single chamber SPA under similar loading and boundary conditions. However, the SPA with circular air chambers creates large bending as compared to the SPA with square air chambers.