Thin flexible end-effector using pneumatic balloon actuator

摘要

A pneumatic balloon is applied to actuate a thin flexible end-effector. The pneumatic balloon actuator (hereafter PBA) is fabricated on a cantilever for the flexible end-effector. The end-effector bends when the pneumatic balloon swells. Static and dynamic characterizations on PBA confirm that PBA provide large displacements, high forces, and flexible structures. In order to demonstrate cooperative performance of PBA, a ciliary motion conveyance system is composed of distributed end-effectors. A manipulation of a glass plate by the developed system is successfully operated. Increasing degrees of freedom of the end-effector is also tried to perform more complicated motion, in addition, a few trials aiming to implement micro PBA arrays have been estimated through prototyping.