Soft Pneumatic Helical Actuator for Collaborative Robotics

The human-robot collaboration expects safe cobots in structure and end-effectors to be applied. Pneumatic soft actuators, made of reinforced elastomeric materials, satisfy safety requirements. In the present work, a soft pneumatic actuator, with a deformed helical shape, for collaborative robots is presented. Made of a silicone rubber tube wrapped by a proper cut gauze, the actuator allows the grasping of long and slender objects. The working principle of the actuator, the behavior, and the manufacturing procedure of a prototype, realized for a practical case, are presented. Experimental tests validated the functionality of the proposed device.