Abstract
It is considered that robots used in life space need portability, quickness and high compliance as important factors to ensure safety and usability. To satisfy these factors, the reduction of mass of robots is focused in this paper. As a method of lightweight for robots, several soft actuators made of rubber material have been developed. In our researches, very lightweight and flexible pneumatic actuator has been developed by using inelastic films. We already developed bending type actuator using pleats structure. This actuator can bend without rigid links. Therefore, development of power assisting orthotics that doesn't require the exoskeleton is expected. This paper describes a new bending type soft actuator with pleats and bags structures. It seems that more powerful actuator by contraction of bags structure would be effective for wearable robot.
