Abstract
In this paper, we propose a pneumatic rubberless artificial muscle. The working principal is the same as a general McKibben artificial muscle. The rubberless artificial muscle uses an air bag made of an aluminum vapor-deposition polyester film instead of a rubber tube. The rubberless artificial muscle consists entirely of non-elastic materials. Therefore, it is necessary to design the muscle in consideration of the geometrical relationship. An expression for the design of the rubberless artificial muscle is derived. We confirmed the validity of this expression through the evaluation of a prototype. Furthermore, we examined input/output characteristics and isotonic contraction characteristics and isometric contraction characteristics of the rubberless artificial muscle as fundamental characteristics through the experiment. We confirmed that the rubberless artificial muscle efficiently converted inner pressure into generated force and contraction displacement compared with the general McKibben artificial muscle. The biomechanical characteristics of the rubberless artificial muscle are the same as a human muscle.
