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Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering >> 2021, Volume 16, Issue 1 doi: 10.1007/s11465-020-0605-3

Modular crawling robots using soft pneumatic actuators

. Guangdong Key Laboratory of Precision Equipment and Manufacturing Technology, School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.. School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen 518055, China

Received: 2020-11-13 Accepted: 2020-12-21 Available online: 2020-12-21

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Abstract

Crawling robots have elicited much attention in recent years due to their stable and efficient locomotion. In this work, several crawling robots are developed using two types of soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs), namely, an axial elongation SPA and a dual bending SPA. By constraining the deformation of the elastomeric chamber, the SPAs realize their prescribed motions, and the deformations subjected to pressures are characterized with numerical models. Experiments are performed for verification, and the results show good agreement. The SPAs are fabricated by casting and developed into crawling robots with 3D-printing connectors. Control schemes are presented, and crawling tests are performed. The speeds predicted by the numerical models agree well with the speeds in the experiments.

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