• Gariya, Narendra
• Asrani, Anjas
• Nautiyal, Hemant

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The present study aims to quantify the bending of soft pneumatic actuators used in soft robots for different loading conditions. The bending angle was measured for the Ecoflex-OO50 silicone rubber-made hollow beam of different top layer thickness (1, 1.5, and 2 mm) under the pneumatic pressure of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 kPa using the analytical modeling using Euler Bernoulli beam theory and FEM analysis tools. The increase in top layer thickness exhibited a decrease in bending angle, while an increase in pressure exhibits an increase in bending angle, from both tools of analysis. However, the modeling technique gave pretty high bending angle values as those obtained from FEM analysis. For the validation, Ecoflex-OO50 (silicon rubber) specimens of the same dimensions, as used in the FEM analysis and analytical model were taken and applied with the same pressure intensity, as in the FEM analysis and analytical model. The values obtained from the actual testing of the material were closer to the value of FEM analysis, the reason for the large difference in actual bending angle values and values obtained by the modeling is the assumptions taken into consideration while applying Euler Bernoulli beam theory.</jats:p>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• theory
• Silicon
• rubber