An Automatic Design Tool for Fluid Elastomer Actuators

Abstract

—Soft robotic actuators are a very promising tech- nology to enable use of robotic manipulators in scenarios that are inaccessible to traditional robots. However, their design and fabrication is a laborious process, especially for users with little knowledge of CAD software and 3D printing. The skills and time necessary for making the moulds used to create such actuators, leaves the process open for human errors and design variations, making accurate and repeatable experimental testing difficult to achieve. To reach a better understanding of this new technology, extensive and detailed experimental work should be undertaken, but this is currently hindered by the time-consuming design process. The design software presented in this paper provides the soft robotic community with a user-friendly design tool for generating 3D printed moulds that the users can customise to their needs. The tool aims to simplify the design process for soft robotics and to also make this technology accessible to users without extensive engineering background.