Untethered Multimode Fluidic Actuation: A New Approach to Soft and Compliant Robotics

Fluid actuated soft robots, or fluidic elastomer actuators, have shown great potential in robotic applications where large compliance and safe interaction are dominant concerns. They have been widely studied in wearable robotics, prosthetics, and rehabilitations in recent years. However, such soft robots and actuators are tethered to a bulky pump and controlled by various valves, limiting their applications to a small confined space. In this study, we report a new and effective approach to fluidic power actuation that is untethered, easy to design, fabricate, control, and allows various modes of actuation. In the proposed approach, a sealed elastic tube filled with fluid (gas or liquid) is segmented by adaptors. When twisting a segment, two major effects could be observed: (1) the twisted segment exhibits a contraction force and (2) other segments inflate or deform according to their constraint patterns. Utilizing such effects, various actuation modes could be realized. In this research, four modes of actuation are illustrated: (1) soft actuator and pump actuation, (2) serial actuation, (3) parallel actuation, and (4) agonist and antagonist actuation. Theoretic analysis and experimental studies for the basic actuation principle have been conducted. A case study on an anthropomorphic forearm based on the proposed twisting tube actuation has been developed to showcase the effectiveness of the actuation modes. The studies suggest that the proposed approach has a great potential in both soft and compliant robotics.