In recent years, soft pneumatic actuators have come into the spotlight because of their simple control and the wide range of complex motions. To monitor the deformation of soft robotic systems, elastomer-based sensors are being used. However, the embedding of sensors into soft actuator modules by polymer casting is time consuming and difficult to upscale. In this study, it is shown how a pneumatic bending actuator with an integrated sensing element can be produced using an extrusion-based additive manufacturing method, e.g., fused deposition modeling (FDM). The advantage of FDM against direct printing or robocasting is the significantly higher resolution and the ability to print large objectives in a short amount of time. New, commercial launched, pellet-based FDM printers are able to 3D print thermoplastic elastomers of low shore hardness that are required for soft robotic applications, to avoid high pressure for activation. A soft pneumatic actuator with the in situ integrated piezoresistive sensor element was successfully printed using a commercial styrene-based thermoplastic elastomer (TPS) and a developed TPS/carbon black (CB) sensor composite. It has been demonstrated that the integrated sensing elements could monitor the deformation of the pneumatic soft robotic actuator. The findings of this study contribute to extending the applicability of additive manufacturing for integrated soft sensors in large soft robotic systems.


    Access

    Download


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    A soft pneumatic actuator with integrated deformation sensing elements produced exclusively with extrusion based additive manufacturing


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2022-01-12


    Remarks:

    Engineering Proceedings 6(1) 11



    Type of media :

    Research Data


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    DDC:    629




    PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR AND PNEUMATIC SYSTEM INCLUDING PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR

    COPPOLA GIANMARC / ORR KODY | European Patent Office | 2020

    Free access

    Development of Air-operated Valve Constructed with Pneumatic Soft Actuator

    Inoue, Yutaka / Sasaki, Daisuke / Takaiwa, Masahiro | British Library Online Contents | 2018


    Pneumatic Bellows Actuator with Force Sensing Ability and Its Application to a Pneumatic Robot

    Hayakawa, Y. / Kawamura, S. | British Library Online Contents | 1995


    Fixture-Integrated Biaxial Fatigue Test Coupon Produced with Additive Manufacturing

    Golinveaux, Frederick S. / Rome, Jacob / Patel, Dhruv et al. | AIAA | 2021


    FIXTURE-INTEGRATED BIAXIAL FATIGUE TEST COUPON PRODUCED WITH ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

    Golinveaux, Frederick S. / Rome, Jacob / Patel, Dhruv et al. | TIBKAT | 2021