UC Irvine

Soft robotics can provide alternatives from traditional robotics to grip, move, and assist in areas that are unsuitable to traditional robotics due to their hard shape and rigid structure. Pneumatic logic circuits developed in the Hui Lab hold strong potential for the control of soft robotics, but the technology can only drive vacuum actuators. In contrast, soft robotics are primarily designed to be driven by positive pressure. While a couple of notable vacuum actuators have been reported, they require the displacement of larger air volumes than can be generated by our lab’s microfluidic circuitry. We set out to find a new actuator that is compatible with the previously made pneumatic logic controllers. The goal was to find a smaller actuator that could be used to run simple machines that was vacuum powered and had comparable properties to other actuators in the field. Soft ball and dome actuators were created from Dragon Skin 30 and either tygon tubing or a needle was used as an attachment to vacuum pressure. Through measuring displacement of a lever arm, recording the speed of the actuator, and measuring the load the actuator can move, the properties of the actuators were found and compared to those previously in the field. The actuators were shown to be able to provide mechanical advantage and be used in a simple machine by moving lever arms up and down by the change in vacuum pressure.