Abstract
In this paper, we propose an idea of asymmetric bending in a fiber reinforced soft pneumatic actuator. The mixing of two intrinsically different elastomers Ecoflex 00-20 (Smooth-On, Macungie, PA, USA) and Dragon Skin 00-20 (Smooth-On, Macungie, PA, USA) with viscosities 3,000 cps and 20,000 cps respectively in various proportions and curing them all together has resulted in expected results. This can be extremely useful for how we look and manufacture soft actuators. This is going to help in cutting our costs significantly and improving the pneumatic loading strength on a greater scale. All of this, with an increased amount of precision and controllability. Experiments were carried out to determine the effects of various proportions of two different elastomers and we have also renewed the curing procedure. Our methodology can be used to design a soft actuator that bends asymmetrically without external restrictions.
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Acknowledgement
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Advanced Robotics Centre, NUS for providing us with constant support and resources. Dr. Marcelo H ANG Jr’s guidance was paramount and NUS PhD students Khin Phone May and Ajinkya Bhat played a crucial role in helping us throughout the process. We would also like to thank Dr. Santanu Mitra of Shiv Nadar University for his constant encouragement and support.
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Rawat, P., Misra, T., Khin, P.M., Ang, M.H., Yeow, CH., Mitra, S. (2022). GradNet: A Viscosity Gradient Approach to Achieve Dexterity in Soft Pneumatic Actuators. In: Ang Jr, M.H., Asama, H., Lin, W., Foong, S. (eds) Intelligent Autonomous Systems 16. IAS 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 412. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95892-3_29
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