Tool for the rapid design of knitted soft actuators

摘要

A quick, efficient digital tool for the design andproduction of sensor-enhanced soft pneumatic actuators using machine knitting is being developed byresearchers in the USA.The researchers – at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) in Cambridge – say that machineknitting is an attractive method for the production ofsoft actuators as it is fast, highly automated and allowsfor the use of a wide variety of yarns, such as those thatare elastic or electrically conductive.