Pneumatic Rubber Actuator Driven by Elastic Traveling Waves

Abstract

"Bubbler, "a new type of pneumatic rubber actuator realizing linear motion, has been designed and developed.Bubbler consists of a silicone rubber slab, and its interior is divided into many chambers.When pressure is applied to successive chambers sequentially, the surface of the rubber slab produces linear traveling waves which drive objects placed on the actuator.This actuator can be applied as a mobile robot base or a conveyor.The mechanism and characteristics of this actuator are discussed in this report.The characteristics of the actuator can be estimated by applying a simple linear analysis mehtod for various driving conditions:frequency, length, and duty ratio of the generated waves, vertical loads, and horizontal loads.Slip ratio or the error between the theoretical and experimental velocity of the actuator is within 20%.Experimental results are very promising.The walking speed of the prototype, 63mm×60mm×9mm in size, was found to be 4.7mm / s and the load-to-weight ratio in the order of 40:1.