3D-printed omnidirectional soft pneumatic actuators: Design, modeling and characterization

Abstract

Soft pneumatic actuators are usually fabricated using molding and casting techniques with silicone rubbers, which requires intensive manual labor and limits repeatability and design flexibility for complex geometries. This article presents the design and direct 3D-printing of novel omnidirectional soft pneumatic actuators using stereolithography (SLA) with an elastic resin and fused deposition modeling (FDM) with a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The actuator is modeled and optimized for bending performance using the finite element method along with a hyperelastic material model that is based on experimental uniaxial tensile data. The designs inspired by fast pneumatic network actuators (P..