Pneumatic actuator
Related papers: 20
About
A pneumatic actuator is a device that converts compressed air or gas pressure into mechanical motion, producing forces and displacements used to drive robotic systems. In robotics and AI, pneumatic actuators span a wide range of designs—from rigid McKibben artificial muscles, which use braided sleeves around inflatable tubes to generate contractile force, to soft fluidic elastomer actuators that bend, extend, or twist when pressurized chambers within silicone or rubber bodies inflate. These actuators power applications including soft locomotion robots inspired by squid and starfish, wearable rehabilitation gloves, exosuits, prosthetic hands, grippers, and bioinspired swimming robots. Their compliance and inherent flexibility make them especially well-suited for safe human-robot interaction, delicate manipulation, and operating in unstructured environments where rigid actuators would cause injury or damage. Pneumatic actuators matter because they offer high force-to-weight ratios, mechanical simplicity, and natural softness that rigid electric motors cannot easily replicate, enabling a generation of robots that are safer, more adaptable, and better suited for healthcare, wearable devices, and complex real-world tasks.
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Multigait soft robot
Robert F. Shepherd, Filip Ilievski, Wonjae Choi, Stephen A. Morin, Adam A. Stokes, Aaron D. Mazzeo, Xin Chen, George M. Whitesides
Citations: 2059 • 2011
Soft robotic glove for combined assistance and at-home rehabilitation
Panagiotis Polygerinos, Zheng Wang, Kevin C. Galloway, Robert J. Wood, Conor J. Walsh
Citations: 1580 • 2014
Measurement and modeling of McKibben pneumatic artificial muscles
Ching-Ping Chou, Blake Hannaford
Citations: 1570 • 1996
A Resilient, Untethered Soft Robot
Michael T. Tolley, Robert F. Shepherd, Bobak Mosadegh, Kevin C. Galloway, Michael Wehner, Michael Karpelson, Robert J. Wood, George M. Whitesides
Citations: 1075 • 2014
Autonomous Soft Robotic Fish Capable of Escape Maneuvers Using Fluidic Elastomer Actuators
Andrew D. Marchese, Çağdaş D. Önal, Daniela Rus
Citations: 915 • 2014
Compliant actuator designs
Ronald Van Ham, Thomas G. Sugar, Bram Vanderborght, Kevin W. Hollander, Dirk Lefeber
Citations: 823 • 2009
Robotic Tentacles with Three‐Dimensional Mobility Based on Flexible Elastomers
Ramsés V. Martínez, Jamie L. Branch, Carina R. Fish, Lihua Jin, Robert F. Shepherd, Rui M. D. Nunes, Zhigang Suo, George M. Whitesides
Citations: 712 • 2012
A Recipe for Soft Fluidic Elastomer Robots
Andrew D. Marchese, Robert K. Katzschmann, Daniela Rus
Citations: 634 • 2015
High-Force Soft Printable Pneumatics for Soft Robotic Applications
Hong Kai Yap, Hui Yong Ng, Chen‐Hua Yeow
Citations: 594 • 2016
Pneumatic artificial muscles: actuators for robotics and automation
Frank Daerden, Dirk Lefeber
Citations: 576 • 2002
Towards a soft pneumatic glove for hand rehabilitation
Panagiotis Polygerinos, Stacey Lyne, Zheng Wang, Luis Fernando Nicolini, Bobak Mosadegh, George M. Whitesides, Conor J. Walsh
Citations: 525 • 2013
Fast‐Response, Stiffness‐Tunable Soft Actuator by Hybrid Multimaterial 3D Printing
Yuan‐Fang Zhang, Ningbin Zhang, Hardik Hingorani, Ningyuan Ding, Dong Wang, Chao Yuan, Biao Zhang, Guoying Gu, Qi Ge
Citations: 504 • 2019
Mechanical Programming of Soft Actuators by Varying Fiber Angle
Fionnuala Connolly, Panagiotis Polygerinos, Conor J. Walsh, Katia Bertoldi
Citations: 500 • 2015
Control of pneumatic muscle actuators
Darwin G. Caldwell, Gustavo A. Medrano‐Cerda, Mary Goodwin-Trotman
Citations: 467 • 1995
Elastic Inflatable Actuators for Soft Robotic Applications
Benjamin Gorissen, Dominiek Reynaerts, Satoshi Konishi, Kazuhiro YOSHIDA, Joon-wan KIM, Michaël De Volder
Citations: 448 • 2017
Soft Robotics: A Review of Recent Developments of Pneumatic Soft Actuators
James S. Walker, Thomas Zidek, Cory Harbel, Sanghyun Yoon, F. Sterling Strickland, Srinivas Kumar, Minchul Shin
Citations: 369 • 2020
Soft Pneumatic Actuators: A Review of Design, Fabrication, Modeling, Sensing, Control and Applications
Matheus S. Xavier, Charbel Tawk, Ali Zolfagharian, Joshua Pinskier, David Howard, Taylor R. Young, Jiewen Lai, Simon M. Harrison, Yuen Kuan Yong, Mahdi Bodaghi, Andrew J. Fleming
Citations: 363 • 2022
Shape Memory Alloy-Based Soft Gripper with Variable Stiffness for Compliant and Effective Grasping
Wei Wang, Sung‐Hoon Ahn
Citations: 351 • 2017
A lightweight soft exosuit for gait assistance
Michael Wehner, Brendan Quinlivan, Patrick M. Aubin, Ernesto C. Martinez-Villalpando, Michael Baumann, Leia Stirling, Kenneth G. Holt, Robert J. Wood, Conor J. Walsh
Citations: 346 • 2013
A Bending Pneumatic Rubber Actuator Realizing Soft-bodied Manta Swimming Robot
Koichi Suzumori, Satoshi Endo, Takefumi Kanda, Naomi Kato, Hiroyoshi Suzuki
Citations: 338 • 2007