Soft Actuator Design

Soft actuators can impart spatial forces without imposing a rigid structure. We explore ways of utilizing geometry and reinforcing elements such as fibers and beams to design fluid-driven actuators with desired properties.

Publications

• R. Zuo, M. Mehta, D.H. Han, D. Bruder. "Embedded Valves for Distributed Control of Soft Pneumatic Actuators". IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). 2024. [link] [bibtex] [video]

• D. Bruder, R. J. Wood. "The Chain-link Actuator: Exploiting the Bending Stiffness of McKibben Artificial Muscles to Achieve Larger Contraction Ratios". IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2021. [link] [bibtex]

• A. Sedal, D. Bruder, J. Bishop-Moser, R. Vasudevan, and S. Kota. "A Continuum Model for Fiber-Reinforced Soft Robot Actuators". Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics. 2018. [link] [bibtex]

• D. Bruder, A. Sedal, J. Bishop-Moser, S. Kota, and R. Vasudevan. "Model Based Control of Fiber Reinforced Elastofluidic Enclosures". IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). 2017. [link] [bibtex] [video]