Effect of Fiber Angle Variation on Bending Behavior of Semi-Cylindrical Fiber-Reinforced Soft Actuator

Abstract

Soft robots are a specific type of robots that are made of elastomeric materials. A specific type of soft actuators (soft robots) are called fiber-reinforced soft actuators. Effective parameters in the motion of fiber-reinforced soft actuators are cross-section area, thickness of the actuator, number of threads wrapped around the actuator, angle of threads, and if the fiber is wrapped one-way or two-way. Some of these parameters are already studied by researchers in the field. In this research, the aim is to investigate the effect of the angle of the fiber on the motion of a semi-cylindrical fiber-reinforced soft actuator with an inextensible layer attached to its flat surface. This paper studies the behavior analysis of the actuator, which is modeled in a finite element software. The behavior of the actuator in terms of bending is then studied by changing the angle of the fiber wrapped around the outer surface of the actuator. Results show that the bending behavior of the actuator highly depends on the fiber angle. Simulation results are then validated with experiment. The results presented in this paper provides an instruction on how one can improve or optimize the bending workspace of the actuator as needed.