Design and Finite Element Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Soft Pneumatic Actuator

Soft fluid actuators consisting of the flexible materials are of particular interest to the robotics field because of the low cost and the potential applications, which can be easily customized to a given devices. However, the great potential of such actuators is currently limited due to that their designs are mostly based on experience. In this paper, we designed and manufactured a fiber-reinforced soft pneumatic actuator. Through ingenious design, the actuator can produce bending movement under low pressure, which has simple structure, convenient fabrication and low cost. This paper provides a finite-element method (FEM) model for the bending of the fiber-reinforced soft pneumatic actuator in the free space, which can present a more realistic description of the nonlinear response of the system. With the FEM model, the deformation and stress of the soft actuators can be visualized readily, leading to a better understanding about the influence of geometric parameters, input air pressure and material selection on bending angel performance. Finally, corresponding experiments have also been taken, successfully demonstrating the validity of the FEM model.