An addressable pneumatic regulator for distributed control of soft robots

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a digitally-controlled, miniature, multi-mode pressure regulator for integration directly into centimeter-scale soft robots. This regulator integrates best-of-class commercially-available pneumatic valves and pressure sensors to achieve a small and lightweight servo-controlled pressure regulator. We demonstrate that the regulator is able to track both step and ramp commands and quantify the error in the resulting pressure. In order to facilitate integration of many such regulators into a single soft robot, we have implemented an addressable digital communication system, based on the industry-standard I2C bus. This allows us to connect up to 127 regulators on a single 4-line bus, significantly reducing the mass and complexity of the required wiring.