Kinematic Modelling and Experimental Validation of a Foldable Pneumatic Soft Manipulator

A foldable pneumatic soft manipulator, which has the foldability to switch between a contraction state and an expanded state, is proposed in this investigation. The soft manipulator is a structure composed of pneumatic actuators and inflatable straight arms. The directional movement is driven by the pneumatic actuators and the foldability is realized by the inflatable straight arms. Based on this design, the kinematic model of one foldable pneumatic module is developed and presented. The shape deformation and workspace of the pneumatic module is numerically calculated and analyzed. To validate the correctness of the kinematic model, the prototype of one foldable pneumatic module, as well as the relevant pneumatic control system, is designed and developed. The repeatability of the pneumatic module and the model prediction accuracy are tested and validated by the experiment.