As robotics and materials science develop, origami mechanical structures have gradually attracted attention in the research field due to their lightweight, foldable, and multifunctional characteristics. As one of them, the water elastic origami mechanism, with its unique structure and flexibility, provides a new perspective and possibility for the design of pneumatic manipulators. This study proposes a research on the design of a pneumatic manipulator for a water elastic paper folding mechanism by the DH parameter method and the symmetric folding assumption, in response to the issue of insensitivity of the manipulator. Firstly, the dynamic factors of the hydroelastic mechanical mechanism, including its degree of freedom and reaction force, are explored. Secondly, the DH parameter method is used to design and optimize the configuration of the paper folding manipulator, making its operation more accurate and capable of handling more types of tasks. Finally, the symmetrical folding assumption is used to guide the design of the water elastic origami mechanism, in order to create a more stable and reliable pneumatic manipulator. Results showed that the recognition accuracy of cola bottles, dental floss boxes, cubes, cylinders, sponge cubes, and glasses boxes reached 100%. From this, it can be seen that these data clearly demonstrate that the object recognition system can maintain high recognition accuracy for various different objects and shapes, proving the effectiveness and reliability of the system.