This paper shows a new design and prototyping method for pneumatic rubber actuators. The method enables us to design pneumatic rubber actuators optimally and efficiently based on static analysis using non-linear finite element method, in which geometrical and material non-linearity are considered and also enables us to prototype them rapidly and efficiently by a CAD/CAM based rubber moulding pr...

There has been increased interest in use of pneumatic actuators in many fields, such as medical care and welfare. In particular, proposed pneumatic soft actuator with soft material has many advantages such as low mass, flexibility, safety and user-friendliness. We therefore focus on the pneumatic actuators as a drive source of a rehabilitation device. This paper describes the concept, design, p...

A better understanding of how actuator design supports locomotor function may help develop novel and more functional powered assistive devices or robotic legged systems. Legged robots comprise passive parts (e.g., segments, joints and connections) which are moved in a coordinated manner by actuators. In this study, we propose a novel concept of a hybrid electric-pneumatic actuator (EPA) as an e...

Pneumatic actuation systems are widely used in industrial automation, such as drilling, sawing, squeezing, gripping, and spraying. Also, they are used in motion control of materials and parts handling, packing machines, machine tools, food processing industry and in robotics; e.g. two-legged robot. In this paper, a Neural Network based intelligent PI controller is designed and simulated to incr...

of the Dissertation Fault Detection and Diagnosis for A Multi-Actuator Pneumatic System by Kunbo Zhang Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering Stony Brook University 2011 In pneumatic actuating systems, various kinds of faults are key factors in degrading system performance and increasing air consumption. It is therefore valuable to monitor pneumatic systems and implement predictive main...

This article describes a soft pneumatic actuator that generates cyclical motion. The actuator consists of several (three, four, or five) chambers (arranged around the circumference of a circle surrounding a central rod) that can be actuated independently using negative pressure (or partial vacuum). Sequential actuation of the four-chamber device using reduced pressure moves the central rod cycl...

Abstract: To clarify the advantages of using soft robots in all aspects of life, the effective behaviour of the pneumatic muscle actuator (PMA) must be known. In this work, the performances of the PMA are explained and modelled with three formulas. The first formula describes the pulling force of the actuator based on the structure parameters; furthermore, the formula presented is the generalis...

We used inclined lithography to fabricate a pneumatic microvalve for tall microchannels such as those used to convey large cells. The pneumatic microvalve consists of three layers. The upper layer is the actual liquid microchannel, which has a parallelogram-shaped cross section of width 500 μm, height 100 μm, and an acute angle of 53.6◦. The lower layer is a pneumatic microchannel that function...