Origami-Inspired Soft Pneumatic Actuators: Generalization and Design Optimization

Soft actuators are essential to soft robots and can also be used with rigid-bodied robots. This paper is focused on methods for improving the applicability of origami-inspired soft pneumatic actuators (OSPA). Our method for rapidly fabricating OSPA is shown to be capable of making a range of actuator sizes out of different materials. The largest OSPA has a force-to-weight ratio of 124, and can lift a 44 kg mass using a −85 kPa supply pressure. …