EPAM: Eversive Pneumatic Artificial Muscle

Abstract

Pneumatic Artificial Muscles, which are lightweight actuators with inherently compliant behavior, are broadly recognized as safe actuators for devices that assist or interact with humans. This paper presents the design and implementation of a soft pneumatic muscle based on the eversion principle - Eversive Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (EPAM). The proposed pneumatic muscle exerts a pulling force when elongating based on the eversion (growing) principle. It is capable of extending its length by a minimum of 100% when fully inflated. In contrast to other soft pneumatic actuators, such as the McKibben's muscle, which contract when pressurized, our EPAM extends when pressure is increased. Additionally, important advantages of employing the eversion principle are the capability to achieve high pulling forces and an efficient force to pressure ratio. In a pivoting joint/link mechanism configuration the proposed muscle provides motion comparable to human arm flexion and extension. In this work, we present the design of the proposed EPAM, study its behavior, and evaluate its displacement capability and generated forces in an agonistic and antagonistic joint/link arrangement. The developed EPAM prototype with a diameter of 25 mm and a length of 250 mm shows promising results, capable of exerting 10 N force when pressurized up to 62 KPa.