Pneumatic soft bionic actuators inspired by elephant trunk for multidisciplinary robotics applications

Abstract

Abstract Soft robots in technology makes rapid development in the field of robotics, so that robots are widely used in all aspects of life. This paper proposed a bionic elephant trunk structure of pneumatic actuator (SPA). To solve the insufficient tip force and bending angle of SPA, mathematical model and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are used to determine the optimal parameters of the SPA. Based on optimized SPAs, robots for multidisciplinary applications are developed. These applications include soft gripper with high gripping force of up to 480 N, a quadruped soft robot capable of adapting complex amphibious environments, and a robot designed to assist with sign language communication. These demonstrate the versatility of soft robots in addressing challenges across various domains, such as healthcare, human-machine interaction, and environmental exploration.