Design of Servo Valve using Buckled Tubes for Desired Operation of Flexible Robot Arm based of Static Analytical Model

Abstract

A Pneumatic soft actuator has many advantages of a higher ratio of generated force and lightweight and inexpensive. It is also attracting attention because of its intrinsic safety due to compliance based on air compressibility. However, in a system using pneumatic soft actuators, a servo valve is most heavy and expensive. Therefore, in the previous study, a low-cost and small-sized servo valve using buckled tubes was proposed and developed. In this paper, a static analytical model for designing the valve was proposed. In order to decrease the cost and size of valves, a multi-port servo valve that can operate three pneumatic actuators of the flexible robot at the same time was proposed. The design method of the valve based on the analytical model to get desired sinusoidal motion of the robot was described. The driving test of the robot arm using the designed valve based on the model was carried out.