Finite Element Simulation Analysis of a Novel 3D-FRSPA for Crawling Locomotion

Abstract

A novel three-dimensional-fiber reinforced soft pneumatic actuator (3D-FRSPA) inspired by crab claw and human hand structure that can bend and deform independently in each segment is proposed. It has an omni-directional bending configuration, and the fibers twined symmetrically on both sides to improve the bending performance of FRSPA. In this paper, the static and kinematic analysis of 3D-FRSPA are carried out in detail. The effects of fiber, pneumatic chamber and segment length, and circular air chamber radius of 3D-FRSPA on the mechanical performance of the actuator are discussed, respectively. The soft mobile robot composed of 3D-FRSPA has the ability to crawl. Finally, the crawling processes of the soft mobile robot on different road conditions are studied, respectively, and the motion mechanism of the mobile actuator is shown. The numerical results show that the soft mobile robots have a good comprehensive performance, which verifies the correctness of the proposed model. This work shows that the proposed structures have great potential in complex road conditions, unknown space detection and other operations.