Innovative Design of Embedded Pressure and Position Sensors for Soft Actuators

Abstract

In this letter, we present an innovative design of bioinspired soft pneumatic actuators with built-in pressure and position sensors. The soft actuator is designed with segmented bending to mimic human finger motion. Bending angles between segments are measured by the built-in position sensors. On each segment, a pressure sensor is also built in. The pressure and position sensors are made of conductive elastomers and coprinted into the soft actuator in a single process without assembly. These sensors are capable of providing feedback because of their innovative design and the piezoresistive effect of conductive elastomers. Analysis and characterization are conducted for the pressure and position sensors. Finally, a prototype gripper is designed and fabricated using the two proposed soft actuators for grasping demonstration. The proposed soft actuator has potential for applications that require closed-loop control. © 2017 IEEE.